Percy Jackson - A New Beginning
by Ringmasterization
Summary: The Titan War has just ended but Kronos had a last trick up his sleeve. Now the Greeks face a threat which may result in their extinction as Percy Jackson acquires a strange blood lust, becomes a mindless zombie and goes on a killing spree, destroying anybody who comes in his vision with no remorse. The only problem is that he himself doesn't know why he is doing all this.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was deadly silent in the throne room of the gods as Luke lay on the floor with Kronos's evil essence slowly leaving him. Annabeth and Percy knelt by him and she was crying softly while Luke consoled her with all the leftover power he could muster,"Hey Annie, I'm sorry….. I broke my promise. But it's ok….. I knew what would happen ….. when I went down this road. I knew I would….. die. So don't worry… please stop crying."

Then as he turned to Percy, he said, now a bit slower," all the unclaimed… and ignored demigods in the Hermes cabin…..the reason for the war …. stop that from happening."

Percy nodded, speechless, but then all of a sudden, in a flash Luke's eyes changed to the harsh golden color of the Lord of Time and came out the voice of the titan king, Kronos," You may have defeated me this time Jackson, but I will not leave without destroying your life. You will now be immortal and live a worthless life without your family and friends."

And he extended his arm into Percy's face and entered it. Percy's eyes glazed over and they glowed a harsh golden color, even the white part before returning to their beautiful sea green color. Deep burns started coming on Percy's face, but Percy did not react, he just kept kneeling in that posture.

And then Luke's arm fell, the hero finally dead.

Annabeth could only watch, stunned, as Percy too fell down on his back.

Then she ran up to him and started shaking him violently," Seaweed Brain, wake up Seaweed Brain. You can't leave me just like that. Come on, Percy Jackson wake up."

And then came in the almighty Gods, who were also quite winded up after their fight with the monster king, Typhon, and didn't look that almighty, and behind them, the demigods.

But as soon as Poseidon and Hermes saw the scene and the 2 lying bodies, they ran up to their respective sons and started bawling their eyes out.

All the other gods could do was shoot looks of sympathy and pity and then go to their thrones and get lost in their own grief of losing their children.

Malcolm gingerly held Annabeth by the shoulder and said," He's gone Annabeth, he's gone. There's nothing you could do about it. Come, the gods are about to say something."

And Annabeth just let herself get led away as Percy and Luke lay on the cold ground with their father's hands around them.

Then Zeus called the meeting to order and said," All gods return to your thrones and all demigods gather in the middle of the room. We would like to give away rewards to certain heroes for their exceptional bravery in the battle." During this time, Poseidon and Hermes returned to their thrones, albeit with lot of hesitation." First would be my daughter, Thalia. Ask daughter, make your wish".

Thalia first bowed then said, "Father, I want the councils help in the refilling of the hunter ranks and all the dead hunters to be sent to Elysium.""And that's what shall be done, right Hades?"asked Zeus. "Ok, alright" said Hades after Artemis started glaring at him.

"Now will Grover, the satyr, please come up", said Dionysius. As Grover went up Dionysus kept on saying," He will now be made Lord of the Wild and an Honorary Olympian for his feat of searching out Pan and getting his blessing."

Grover fainted then and there and 2 nymphs carried him out.

Then Athena, the wisdom goddess called out," My daughter, Annabeth, Olympus has been, what mortals would say, trashed; and we would love it if somebody designed this great city for the posterity and eons to come. Will you …."

Suddenly everybody heard a groan as if somebody was just waking up and turned their heads to the source of the noise.

That somebody being Percy.

Poseidon immediately turned into the normal mortal size and ran up to his son and hugged him," Your alive, your alive, your alive…" Percy looked around very slowly and then fell unconcious once again as Annabeth too came and hugged him and half the demigod army surrounded them.

Then Apollo called out to," Everybody please move way from Percy, give him some space to breath. Move away. Let me check if he has any internal injuries."

And Apollo turned to mortal size and knelt near Percy as the others moved away,and using his specialty of being the god of medicine started moving his hands (which had a golden glow to them) over Percy in a strange manner and slightly frowning.

But when he looked at his face he gasped for from his nose was coming out a tricklet of blood. _**GOLDEN BLOOD.  
**_

But he just said to everybody else," He's alright, just very exhausted. Let him rest for a day or two and he will be as good as new" in a fake cheerful voice."

Then Zeus said," As the son of Poseidon is unavailable at the moment, his reward will be given to him later."

And Zeus snapped his fingers, transporting Percy to the infirmary. "I hereby claim Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena as the Hero and Heroine of Olympus. Also, Annabeth Chase will get her reward in the celebrations that will take place tonight when everybody has rested."

**After some time, in the Olympian Infirmary**

Apollo was sitting near Percy, examining him like a test subject of the utmost importance.

Poseidon was standing near him, with impatience and worry etched on his face.

It was the same for a few more minutes, after which Apollo said," I don't know how but somehow Percy has become a full-fledged immortal. He has no injuries whatsoever which is quite surprising seeing the amount of fighting he did but in his present condition he should be up and running. But he isn't waking up, and my best guess is that Kronos has put a spell on him, putting him into a comatose from which his return is highly improbable."

Poseidon didn't say anything for a few more minutes but then his expression turned to that of anger and he said in a threatening voice to Apollo," I don't care what you do but I want my son back. You're the medicine god, so you better do something and do something quick."

But a tear from his eye betrayed his true emotions as the sea god disappeared in water vapor and sea mist.

Apollo shook his head as he knew Poseidon wasn't in the right state of mind and didn't mean what he said.

But then, taking into account his unpredictability, one never knew what he meant.

However, more important things were roaming about in Apollo's mind like whether he should tell Poseidon the other important thing.

That Percy's mind was simply empty with only a few pieces of memory about which he couldn't find out.

Any emotions or feelings he felt for anybody or anything were not there, like it never had been there.

Percy had also been inspected by Hecate, the goddess of magic and so Apollo knew he was not incorrect.

Percy had become a zombie, a even then, these were all assumptions and nobody knew what had happened to him.

He should at least consult Athena as she might know a way to cure the prince of the sea. He would ask her tomorrow when he would call an emergency council meeting to discuss the Percy Jackson dilemma.

**Line Breaker **

Annabeth was an emotional wreck.

It had been 3 hours since their victory and Luke's demise. And what about Percy? Nobody seemed to know. All she knew was that Percy was in Apollo's personal care in the Olympian Infirmary.

She remembered the way Percy fell, the way Luke, no Kronos, was the one who almost destroyed her life's love.

Yes, she finally accepted it. Accepted that she loved Percy and had done so from the first time she had met him. Her feelings had developed from a tiny crush to this level where she almost became worried, tensed and depressed if she didn't get to be near her Seaweed Brain.

Anyway she decided to go out of her room and look around Olympus a little so as to get a breather.

She saw the different ruins of the temples of the gods – both major and minor. The different shops on Olympus and the natural beauty made her wonder how Olympus must have looked in its full grandeur and she started thinking about the offer by her mother about rebuilding Olympus however she wanted. She knew that the rebuilding would take at least 30-40 years as Olympus was huge and that would take up almost all of her life.

She kept on walking, meeting many god-lings and the general populous, mortals who have been blessed by the Olympians to live on Olympus, who recognized and acknowledged her as the Heroine of Olympus.

Her wandering in the now ruined city quickly made up to her free time and she would have missed the procession had Artemis not chanced to see the lost daughter of Athena and tried to take her in the hunt once again.

Anyways, when she reached at the elevator doors, from where the procession would start, she joined the first 5 rows of the procession that consisted of the demigods who had fought, followed by the minor gods who had remained on the side of the Gods, and then came the deadly ranks of the Hunter's, one of the most dangerous groups of the Olympian Army followed by 5 rows of the undead to represent Hades and then followed by the nymphs, the simple immortals and at last the general populous, which were just the audience.

The procession started from the doors of the elevator to the throne room, in which sat the Olympians in all their glory, though Hermes were not happy as the death of his child's death was being celebrated, but he was understanding enough to not ruin the celebration for others by having a crying session and having a frown plastered on his face.

As the procession reached the throne room they were welcomed by the gods and then Zeus stood up and announced," Because of the sacrifices of some we are alive even now and are strong enough to defend our home from anybody who dares to attack us."  
A random demigod shouted," Hail the Gods" and they kept cheering until Dionysus, the party god led them to a side of the room which was big enough to hold a party hosted by him.

As the celebrations were going on, Hades came to Apollo and asked him," Don't tell anybody that I asked but how is Perseus' health? I can feel that his life force is already strong enough for him to be up and in this party. But i haven't seen him from the starting of the procession and started wondering if something was wrong."  
Apollo though surprised at first, smirked and then said," I assure you, he is very much alive but in a deep comatose due to, what I assume, a spell put onto him by Kronos when his essence was returning to Tartarus."

"I think you should discuss your queries with that Athena spawn, Annabeth. She was there at the time and might have a clue as to what actually happened." suggested Hades.  
"I might do just that." said Apollo. "But right now I need to go check up on Percy." and before the god of the underworld could respond, Apollo was gone in a bright flash of golden light.

**In the Celebration Party**

Dionysus was having the time of his life. Today was a day he could drink and he was going to utilize this opportunity to its fullest.

He was also spending time with this beautiful nymph that was just leaning against the wall and was trying to be discreet about it but his godlike vision quickly caught on to her.  
And so began the flirting, of course, his father wasn't to know anything about it or the repercussions might be severe.

He didn't care if that Annabell rebuilt the whole of Olympus;he just wanted more wine. But even then he decided to listen in to what was happening on the stage,"... and so I once again offer my daughter the chance to become the Official Architect of Olympus.""I accept"said Annabell.  
"I would also like to ask for something else." Huh, that was strange! What else can she want? thought Dionysus."My best friend, Percy Jackson, was going to be offered a reward but on his behalf i would like to ask for a wish from the council. I.."

"What are you saying? You won't get anything at all."shouted Zeus.

"Just hear me out, my lord. I do not ask anything for myself. I just want to avoid this kind of war from ever happening again and the main reason was because of the neglect the demigods faced from all gods. So i want the whole council to swear on the River Styx that from now on all children will be claimed - whether of a minor god or major god - by the age of 13 and be bought safely to camp. And also that cabins should be built for all the minor gods too. And even Hades should have a place at camp with a cabin in his honour."  
"Are you calling me a minor god"thundered Hades."No, no my lord. What I'm saying is that your children too deserve a place at camp,something that Nico has already proved."squeaked Annabell.

Everyone then looked towards Zeus who had a thoughtful look on his face for a few minutes after which he said," So be it. On behalf of the council, I, Zeus, King of the Gods, swear on the River Styx to have all children claimed by the age of 13 and to be bought to camp safely. Also all the cabins are to be built and designed by the architect of Olympus itself."

Everybody cheered and Dionysus had had it! Already he was serving a sentence and wasn't allowed to have wine till that time period came to an end. He was the wine god for god's sake but was banished from his own domain. Humph! He had to spend a century at that blasted camp with those no-gooders.  
But, after so many years, he had grown attached to those little brats and understood the pain that the other gods felt when they lost a child as the war had consumed one of his own.  
He was a little worried for that sea spawn, what-was-his-name?; oh right - Peter Johnson.  
After all, that demigod was the reason for this party but was himself not present.  
But, anyway, tonight was his night and he would make this one count.

Suddenly the music stopped. Everybody was confused and so was Dionysus. He started getting angry that the one time he was enjoying himself somebody interrupted that. And by the looks of it that somebody was Apollo.

So the god of madness shouted," Start the music again, you blasted sun god. Let me enjoy my time just this once. Just because music is one of your domains, it doesn't mean you can switch it off whenever you want and make others suffer. Start the music."(The god was drunk and so wasn't in the least, aware of what he was saying).

Everybody tensed at those words as they expected a brawl between the 2 half-brothers but it wasn't to be as Apollo said something that was hardly audible.  
So, Artemis shouted at her younger twin," If you want to say something important then be done with it otherwise just continue the party" (she too was drunk very heavily as well as many other gods).

So Apollo shouted the 4 words that shocked everybody to the core," Perseus Jackson is missing."

**Please Review and tell me how i have done. This is my first story ever and i would appreciate any comments.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Percy's eyes fluttered open, but very slowly. He couldn't see much as it was quite dark.  
He couldn't remember how he came in this place or why he had a huge pounding in his head.

He remained disgruntled for a few moments more and didn't realize where he was until now. He slowly got up from his bed and stood up only to stumble and fall down on his knees.

But he kept on trying and after some tries he was successful and could stand up properly.

And then he looked around the room in a scrutinizing way and saw a bunch of weapons lying on the couch.  
He went there and picked up the first sword that came into his hand by the sharp edge and then adjusted the sword to hold the grip tightly. He had got a deep cut in his hand due to holding the sharp blade, but it was like he didn't feel anything, and if he did, he didn't react at all. And then he just walked out of the door.

Only to come face to face with a nymph. The nymph started saying something and jumping on her toes. Percy couldn't hear anything. He didn't know the nymph but her actions were irritating him and before the nymph could react, he stabbed her with the sword.

And that was it. He then walked away, but very slowly, like nothing had happened, leaving the nymph to die.  
He heard a lot of noises coming from some big room to his side. He turned his head and stood in that position for a few more minutes, listening to the noises and thinking of the amount of people in the room in that direction and the amount of killing he could do and he had a sudden want to go there and butcher every last living being, before he got distracted by a blessed mortal who ran into him.

The mortal apologized and turned around to go the other way when Percy slashed at his back making a straight wound.  
The mortal screamed and fell. Then he got and looked up at the emotionless face of the Hero of Olympus, got up and ran away in the direction of the elevator doors, continuously tripping himself in the hurry.

Percy just walked slowly and followed the mortal, having forgotten the noises already.

**In the Celebration Party**

Everybody was stunned; the biggest gasp coming from Annabeth who just fainted then and there. Everybody just stood where they were and then, like a glass had been broken shaking them out from their stupor, they started shouting.

Until Hades shouted, taking control of the situation," Quiet" (surprising right?).And then there was silence.  
"Carry the Athena spawn to the infirmary and make sure she's fine. She knows what happened to Perseus Jackson and we need that information. Nemesis and Hebe shall lead all the other minor gods, demigods and Hunters to their respective quarters while all the Olympians shall return to their thrones at this instant. We shall have an emergency council meeting."

Everybody stood in their places, frozen until Poseidon shouted," Go" shaking the very foundations of the already ruined Olympus.

**After a few minutes**

"But how is it possible, Apollo said that Barnacle Beard's son was all tired and exhausted and would get better after a day or two." pointed out Ares.

"Somebody must have kidnapped him" deduced Hermes.  
"Lets not jump to conclusions" said Artemis.

"Artemis is right" said Apollo, who is also the god of prophecy."Anyways I have to tell the council something."Apollo waited for any interruptions, when there were none, he continued," When I first checked up on Percy in the throne room just after the battle was over, I saw that there were a few drops of golden blood coming out of his nose, signaling that he was somehow immortal."

"Why didn't you tell us this before, and how did Percy become immortal?" asked Zeus, with narrowed eyes.

"I didn't want to give everybody the added stress." said Apollo, defending himself. "So I lied. Then when I checked him in the infirmary properly, I saw that he was completely alright and should have been awake. But he wasn't. I told Poseidon of my suspicions; that while Kronos' essence was returning to Tartarus, he used up the last of his energy to put Percy in a deep comatose and make him immortal. Percy could only wake up by himself, and we never know when that will happen, it could be only after a few hours, or some months, maybe years, or sadly, never."

"But how can father make somebody immortal just like that?" whined Zeus, "I am the king of the gods, not him."

"But in fact, he can brother" murmured Hestia, but everybody could hear her.

"What do you mean?" asked Dionysus.

Ignoring Dionysus, Hestia continued, "If you have forgotten, our father was the Titan king, so he too had the power to bestow immortality on anybody, and only he himself could reverse that spell."  
Hestia was hardly ever wrong and everybody liked her so everybody used to listen to her and Zeus was no exception. He loved his sister dearly and would never rebuke her.

And even though he was going to offer godhood to Percy as a reward, it still irked him that things could go out of his control and he couldn't do anything about it.

"So Hermes is right, he must have been kidnapped." Said Dionysus.

"Or he must have woken up from his coma and is now roaming about on Olympus." said Demeter.

"Then he should have been found by somebody up till now." said Athena.

"Anywaaays, when I went to check up on him during the party, he was missing. I tried to trace his energy signal, now that he is immortal, but with so many immortals in one place, I couldn't do it." Said Apollo dejectedly.

"Maybe, Poseidon can try, after all Percy is his son." said Hades.  
Poseidon nodded and had a look of concentration on his face for a moment, before he shook his head and said," No, nothing, I couldn't find him, not on Olympus anyway."

"I have heard that the now Lord of the Wild, that satyr – Grover, has an empathy link with your son." Maybe we can ask him to try to connect with Percy." said Artemis.

"What if he just found a girl and is now having the time of his life?" (guess who said this).  
"My son is not like that." said Poseidon, in a sad voice."Maybe, when that Chase girl wakes up, we can ask her about what actually happened."

"So to sum everything up, Kronos is gone, making Percy immortal in his last act and now Percy is missing? Sounds fishy to me." said Hermes.

"One more thing" said Apollo," He does not have a memory anymore, there are only bits and pieces of which I can't decipher anything and so can't Hecate. So if anybody is thinking that Percy is now on the dark side, well, think again."

"Doesn't that mean that now Percy is on nobody's side?" said Demeter.

Everybody fell into deep thought as they all cared for Percy in one way or another and their respect for him had only increased after he defeated Kronos with little help.

Then Hera, Queen of the Heavens, started addressing the council, as her husband was still angry about how somebody could become immortal without his consent," Then we have 2 options; either we let Percy roam free or we search for him and get him back. All those who want to get him back, raise your hands."

Suddenly the doors opened and in came Eris, minor goddess of discord and strife, who bowed and then said, in a neutral voice," My Lords and Ladies, a nymph was found dead in front of the entrance to the infirmary. She (the nymph) was stabbed in the stomach with, what we suspect is, a sword. We also have reason to suspect that this death may be related to the disappearance of Perseus Jackson."

At that moment, a Horae* came in, bowed and said," A blessed mortal was found dead and bound by ropes on the pillars of Olympus. He has a long wound on his back and his head is in the pool of Olympus nearby, separate from his body."

After hearing that the whole meeting was in chaos and Eris smirked, obviously liking the discord between the Olympians and just enjoying the whole scene. Some god was shouting that Percy was now a zombie, someone said he was the savior of Olympus and it all continued till Zeus banged his Master bolt on the floor and sparks flew, bringing order to the meeting.

"So it is decided, we all search for Perseus" said Hera, though it was kinda obvious, so everybody ignored her.

"Hearing all that has been said, I say that a murderer is on the loose and he is Perseus Jackson. We need to hunt him down. NOW!" shouted Artemis.

"It can't be Percy. It just can't. He would never kill an innocent person." Said Poseidon.

"Uncle Poseidon, as much as I hate to admit it, Percy just isn't himself anymore, and he wouldn't know anything he is doing." said Apollo.  
"He _has_ become a zombie, a monster and nobody is safe near him. Not even the ones he loves. If you were to go in front of him in his current state, he would have no hesitation in attacking you and trying to kill you.  
And he is immortal now, so even we can't do anything to him."

Poseidon's only response was a sigh and a nod.

Zeus then said," Artemis, my daughter, if there is a murderer then you shall start the hunting, immediately after this meeting. And be on the lookout for Perseus Jackson, we cannot rule out any possibilities about his current whereabouts.  
And Athena, you shall start searching for a cure along with Apollo and Hecate, if not for his immortality then, for his memory loss. He is a powerful demigod and I do not want to lose somebody like him." admitted Zeus."Is there anything else anybody wants to add?"

As nobody said anything Zeus said," Meeting dismissed" and disappeared in a small flash of lightning, not interested in any theatrics today.

All the gods also disappeared except Poseidon who called out to Artemis and said," I know that you hate people of the opposite sex but this is a onetime request from my side – please don't let any harm befall my boy. I love him from the core of my heart and have no shame in saying that. Please, I beg you."

Artemis took a deep breath and after releasing that she said," Don't worry, uncle. I will try my best to protect Perseus."

"Thank you, niece. This is all I can ask." said Poseidon and then he disappeared in water droplets and sea mist.

**Line Breaker**

After ending the life of the blessed mortal, Percy came down to the ground floor of the Empire State Building by the elevator and walked out, but as always, very slowly.

The guard who was always posted outside the building, and had the passkey for the elevator, had just woken up from the slumber that Morpheus had put the citizens of Manhattan to. He was conversing with Sally Jackson, Percy's mother and Paul Blowfish, who were both waiting for the blue light to flash above the building, which would tell them that the war was over and that Percy was alright.

And when they all saw Percy walk out of the building, they were all confused at seeing a boy walk out of the building with a sword in his hand. And when they saw his burned face they recoiled back in sympathy for the teen. But when Sally saw the eye's of the boy, she knew who it was instantly and Sally ran towards her son and hugged him and kissed him on the head and cheeks and nose, not caring about the burns, and shedding tears of joy."Oh my god, your alive, your alive."

But when she didn't get any response or a hug in return, she looked at him and asked," Are you alright, how did this happen to your face?"  
Paul Blowfish, then came up to them and said," He must be tired Sally, after all your son is coming out alive of a war, that in itself is a feat."

Percy, in the meantime, was getting irritated by these people.  
And one of them was a strange woman who was hugging him and kissing him. And Percy didn't like that.

So when the man came near him he pushed the woman and freed himself from the woman's arms and slashed at the chest of the man, who screamed loudly and fell to the ground, his shirt being stained by the increasing amount of thick red blood coming out of the fatal wound.

When Sally realized what had just taken place, at first she was speechless and stunned, not believing anything and then came the loud scream," Oh my god, what have you done, Percy? What have you done? You killed him, you killed Paul...".

Percy was really on the edge, seeing the woman scream so he took a wild swing and sliced at the woman's throat and a spray of blood blasted into his face. Sally made a few choking motions clutching her wound and staring at Percy, her eye's filled with surprise.

The woman, who gave birth to Percy, sacrificed her dreams, her goals, her ambition, her whole life just so he could live in peace, who lived with a man like Gabe for so many years just to protect Percy and save him from monsters, who suffered years of abuse and torture; both verbal and physical, Percy killed her with just one slice and no emotion. He killed her as if he didn't know her at all.

The guard who had seen everything peed in his pants and stared at the bodies of Sally and Paul and kept muttering," He killed them, he killed them both with a sword."

One look at Percy and he started running away only to trip himself and fall down. Percy ran up to him with his sword held high and swung at the mans head.  
The guard was dead instantly.

He then took out his sword from the carcass and then walked out of the building and into the world, having killed 5 people in less than an hour...

**And this my friends, is where the story of the new Percy Jackson truly starts…  
Don't forget to review and criticize or praise me about my work. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, after seeing some other stories I realized I haven't actually introduced the story. So basically this is my first story and I **_**think**_** it is original but for all I know it may be taken. So in this story Kronos makes Percy immortal (**will be explained later in story**) and makes him want to kill anybody who comes near him. It is how he transforms into somebody else wholly that sums up the first book. Also, I would really, really appreciate it if the reader's, i.e. you guys, reviewed and told me if this story is worth pursuing 'cause I have planned out a whole trilogy of the Percy Jackson - _ series in which he kills anybody he sees and every book is different from the other with only one thing in common and that is Percy, for that you have my guarantee. It's no use writing so much if you guys wouldn't like the story.  
So, here's the third chapter.  
P.S – The whole story will be mainly in 3****rd**** Person with very few personal POV's.  
_**

Chiron was in the van, which was speeding up to Camp Half-Blood, the only safe haven for demigods on Earth. (**A.N = For now, let's consider that he is not thinking of Camp Jupiter and is concerned only with the Greek demigods**)

Chiron should have been happy that they had won the war but the way that the whole situation had taken a drastic turn was too much for him to take in after such a grueling battle.

Two of his best demigods were gone – one in the Olympian Infirmary healing, the other ….. Chiron shuddered at the thought of what had happened to Percy.

He had the worst luck ever, maybe worse than all previous demigods like Achilles or Heracles. He had to go on four quests and fight in the Titan War, all in just four years, from the age of 12. He had to lift the weight of the world literally and figuratively.

He had fought titans, gods and countless monsters but always had the innocence that Chiron had first seen in him at the age of 12. The Fates really had it all out for him.

When Percy was found, IF he was found, Chiron would send Percy to a long vacation to some place which was monster-free, but the problem was that the boy couldn't stay out of trouble for long, even if he wanted to.

But then there was this other problem, Percy's mother. Her body had been discovered along with that of Paul Blowfish and the security guard that carried the pass key to Olympus.

They had all been discovered stabbed to death and the death of so many people including the blessed mortal and the nymph was unnerving him.

Poseidon had broken down and fell down on the ground, his mortal family completely destroyed. He had flashed back to someplace and since then the seas had been completely still.

Even man-made structures like fountains had stagnant water and the aquatic life all over the world was suffering.

After all, it's no everyday that someone would kill two living beings in the palace of Olympus and escape all the security, with no one catching even a glimpse of this killer.

All this had led Chiron to one question – Was Olympus really safe anymore? After all, the defeat of Kronos, disappearance of Percy and these mind-boggling series of murders couldn't be all just a coincidence, could it?

Had there not been this other option which Chiron absolutely refused to consider, he would be so proud to admit that Percy had been his favorite student, so humble, so modest, so kind, so loyal, so…,"Hey Chiron, we have reached camp. Let's get off." said Nico, the son of Hades.

Chiron nodded and then got off the van and walked into the camp.

Nobody in question was happy, as everybody liked or loved Percy in some way or the other, and they were all nervous about the murders that had occurred.

Percy interacted with everybody; young or old, small or big. He was the one that everyone looked up to. And now, that same role model was gone.

But Nico knew better, for he had reached his own conclusions, conclusions which all evidence seemed to point to, but towards which everybody remained ignorant.

But he didn't tell all his to anyone as it was obvious his father would have reached these conclusions by now and he wouldn't want such a fact to spread among the demigods, it would create panic and they would all force themselves to look after Percy when there were other more important things that needed a lot of attention.

Chiron saw the camp and shook his head in sadness, the camp was dirty and some parts were even in ruins as there had hardly been anytime between the Battle of the Labyrinth and the Titan War, to repair camp.

And the extra time was utilized by everybody for training and building armor. But he knew that the demigods would make this a camp again in no time.

But then he thought, could things return to what they used to be before the war? Only time could answer that question.

He went to the big house; his head hung down, opened the door and an arrow flew just above his face and out in the open.

The nymphs had been taking care of the young demigods and along with them, had been planning to attack anybody who entered the big house from the Titan army as they hadn't got an IM from Chiron of any news from the war, so they had had assumed the worst.

Of course, they didn't tell that to the young ones, they cooked up some excuse and the underage demigods believed it all.

So when they saw that it was Chiron who was the entrant, with shock all over his wrinkled face, there was silence.

Chiron was lucky he was sad because if he wasn't, the arrow would have been stuck in the head of the trainer of heroes.

And then all nymphs ran and swarmed around Chiron, hugging and kissing him all over, because they now knew that the war had been won and from now on there would be peace.

They asked many questions as to what all happened and how did it all go but Chiron froze when he heard the question," Did anybody die?"

He again looked down, remembering Percy, and told the nymphs to take all the demigods to their respective cabins and to leave him alone. He looked so sad that the nymphs followed his orders without any argument.

**In the Olympian Infirmary**

Annabeth slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the face of a nymph whose nose was almost touching hers. So she screamed and pushed at the nymph who fell back.

By the time she got up Annabeth was gone. And the nymph sighed and murmured," That was really a brilliant plan by Athena, making her daughter go straight towards the Throne Room just as she woke up, just like Lord Zeus offered."

Annabeth was running and so was her thought process. She kept asking herself questions like Wasn't the Titan War over? and Hadn't they won? and Where the hell were all the other demigods? She came upon the Throne Room, pushed open the huge doors and ran in.

Only to come upon an entirely empty throne room with no gods. Annabeth looked around the ruins and thought that the victory was just a figment of her imagination and that they had truly lost. If so, where was Kronos?

"Annabeth, Annabeth, what are you looking at?" a voice called out. Annabeth could hear somebody call her name but she was so lost in her thoughts she didn't bother to respond. And there was this sudden feeling of warmth near her chest and it kept getting hotter.

The temperature kept on increasing till it became painful and then she was literally shaken out of her thoughts by an 8 year old goddess of the hearth. "Annabeth, what are you thinking about so much? I kept a fire burning in front of your body but it's like you didn't realize it at all. See for yourself, your clothes are also slightly burnt."

Annabeth didn't bother to look at her clothes and didn't even hide the look of surprise that came upon her face. "How are you still here? And where is Kronos? We need to escape right now before the titans find us here. Maybe we can go from that direction or maybe from that one…." Annabeth started rambling.

Until Hestia decided to interrupt," ANNABETH, WE WON. THE WAR IS OVER. THE PATHENON OF THE GODS STILL LIVES."

"Then where is everybody else? And why is there no party for our victory? And where are the other demigods?" Annabeth started asking questions in rapid fire.

Hestia kept quiet till Annabeth got tired of asking and then slightly touched the Annabeth's temple with her index finger. And Annabeth's head got filled with memories and she had a slight moment of dizziness and nausea.

Then she remembered everything and started crying. Hestia knew the reason why so she just led her to the hearth and sat down, putting Annabeth's head in her lap and running her hand in her hair.

Then she said," My dear, I know it's hard to deal with the loss of such a close friend but you have to be strong, not just for yourself but also the demigods that will now look up to you for inspiration, support and motivation. They need somebody who can help them get over the loss of somebody very close to them and it's your duty to do so."

But Annabeth contradicted her saying," How can I be a role model when I myself need help? When I am myself so broken by recent events."

Then Hestia said," Being a leader doesn't mean being devoid of any emotion and being perfect. Being a leader means keeping your own pain at bay and keeping on a smiling face so as to show that there is always hope. Why do you think Percy always smiled even in the most hopeless of situations? He always knew that he may never live the next moment so he gave others the hope that everything could still be alright and shouldered other's responsibility on himself. Sometimes, the heart and its emotions are much wiser than the brain."

With this new dawn of knowledge on her she asked," And what about my emotions for Percy? I finally realized my true feelings for him but by then it was too late. I am such an idiot."

Hestia wasn't much surprised to say the least as she had always known of the budding romance between Percy and Annabeth. So she said," There is nothing you could have done. Think of it this way; he gave up his life so that you could lead a safe, successful and happy life. He did it because he too loved you just as much as you do."

"How can you say that? He had so many girls running after him, even a few goddesses. Why on earth would he want to be with me?" asked Annabeth, not believing a word of Hestia.

"Because that's what love is, my dear. For him, you were the only one that mattered. He had started to consider his feelings for you as more than just friends ever since you and he returned after your first quest together." Said Hestia, in a voice so full of conviction and sweetness and warmth that all Annabeth wanted to do was stay in that position for all day.

But Annabeth still asked," How do you know all this? You are not the goddess of love, how can you be so sure?" Hestia chuckled and said," I don't just sit here and keep the hearths burning. I am the one goddess who knows almost every secret of Olympus, as almost all gods both major and minor, especially my brother Poseidon, confide in me their hearts deepest thoughts that they dare not tell anyone else. This is because I have earned the trust of everybody and would never be a gossip girl who tells all secrets just to gain popularity, like the actual goddess of love."

Annabeth just smiled because she was now certain that her secret would always remain just that – a secret.

**Line Breaker**

Percy was walking the streets of Manhattan, New York and the city was slowly coming to life. Many were starting to wake up and were confused as to why they were passed out in shops and buildings and parks, etc. While some were still sleeping!

A gang of rowdy teenagers, who had seized the opportunity and were pickpocketing the still groggy citizens, came upon Percy who was just walking through the city, not killing anyone as a voice in his head kept telling him to not waste any time and that the people lying around were already dead.

When the teenagers saw Percy, who appeared a bit blurred to them, the leader, who was quite muscled and tall, grinned and raised his hand and they all stopped.

He flinched slightly when he saw the burnt face of Percy but kept a strong face and waited for him to come in front of them and stop.

None of them could see the sword as the mist was affecting them and they all thought it was just a pen. **(A.N = the weapon in Percy's hand is not Riptide but something else. It is just the mist affecting mortals! Can you guess what the actual weapon is? The first one to tell me the answer gets a virtual cookie.)**

But Percy kept walking without even glancing towards the group, and they all felt like idiots. So they all took out their weapons which ranged from baseball bats to knifes to just their fists. The leader called out to Percy but got no response.

The other group members looked strangely at both Percy and then their leader, and the leader, who called himself, Al, got a nervous look on his face as this show of blatant ignorance from the boy would lead to his loss of importance and respect in the group.

So Al ran towards Percy and tackled him to the ground, thereby unknowingly dooming them all. Percy just got up and ever so slowly turned around.

Al stared in the emotionless eyes of Percy and could see his own eyes in them – eyes filled with surprise and fear.

Percy got angry that somebody dared to attack him but was also happy as he now got to kill somebody. And so Percy swung his sword at the mortal.

At the last moment, Al saw the pen change into a sword and so he ducked on instinct. He then knew that there was something strange going on and it would be better to just back off.

So Al, raised his hands and said," Hey homie, I'm sorry man, I'm sorry. You can take that big sword and just go on your way. I will just run away and find a place to pee."

But Percy wasn't listening, at all. He slightly tilted his head and looked behind the man to see… nobody! Percy couldn't see the other people that had come too. Maybe they had all run away.

At least he had only one man to kill. Oh well, something is always better than nothing.  
Al, seeing that the boy was looking behind, turned around to see that all his "friends" had deserted him and run away.

So he turned around to apologize and make a quick getaway when he got kicked hard in the gut and he crashed in the nearby wall, his knife clattering in the distance.

Percy seeing that the mortal was distracted knew it was the perfect chance to attack. So, when the mortal turned around to face him, Percy kicked him in the gut with all his power and watched in satisfaction as the man crashed in the wall nearby, and crumpled to the ground.

Al was now in a lot of pain, but that all faded as the only emotion that came on the surface was anger.

He got up and rushed towards the teenager with his fists balled and raised. The only thing he wanted to do was beat down this arrogant son of a bitch within an inch of his life.

Because one might call Al anything, but he was a very good fighter who grew up on the streets and so knew his way around.

And now that he had already seen the sword, the mist wasn't trying to trick him anymore. He could see Percy properly and he threw his first punch.

Percy saw the man coming but didn't and just stood there, taking it all. Al felt like he was punching an iron wall, but he kept going on, his anger and the adrenalin rush feeding him on, making him oblivious to the bleeding knuckles.

Percy had the curse of Achilles on him, so of course he didn't feel anything. When Al got tired, he gasped and asked," What are you? None of my punches seem to even faze you."

Percy just grinned a maniacal grin and backhanded the mortal, and Al crashed into the wall again. Then Percy ran towards the fallen man and slashed at him. Al rolled out of the way and the sword got stuck in the ground. So Al roundhouse kicked Percy in the head with as much power as he could surge from inside of him.

But Percy just stood there, having no reaction at all and just trying to pull out the stuck sword. Al kept kicking him and in the end it was his leg that was bruised and bleeding.

Then Percy finally pulled the sword out free, and swung sideways immediately. Al, barely dodged the otherwise fatal shot, but the work was done.

Al could never see the other attack coming and by the time he realized it, it was too late. His hand was severed of his body and there was blood spurting all over the place. Al screamed in pain," You monster. Aaaahhhhhhh."

Percy then cut off the other hand and Al, who knew that all hope was lost, attempted to head butt Percy but ended up busting himself open and falling to the ground. There was blood all over his face and he was blinded by it.

Al couldn't even get up as he had no hands, they were lying around somewhere. So he kept screaming in pain, shouting for help and obscenities at the teenager, who had rendered him blind and handless.

Percy, seeing so much blood, left Al lying on the ground, not because he got sick but because he knew that Al would eventually die of blood loss. So he continued on his way, this time with a destination that the voice in his head told him, where he would be sure to get some good competition and the pleasure of this particular hunt would be excruciatingly fun.

And so Percy walked on to Camp Half-Blood.

**The Underworld**

Hades was personally judging all the people who had died that day as there were many heroes who deserved Elysium and many who deserved the Fields of Punishments.

When he saw Sally Jackson and Paul Blowfish, he got off the table and went to talk to them. When they saw him, they bowed to him. Hades waved that off and personally led them to Elysium. While walking he asked them," This may seem like a bit too quick and rude, but I really have to ask, who killed you?"

At first he didn't get any response, but suddenly Sally stopped and looked at Hades with what was a happy expression on her face. She then said," My Lord, I feel that my life is blessed. My true happiness began when I looked at the beautiful sea green eyes of Poseidon and it all ended when I looked in the equally beautiful eyes of my son, Percy."

Hades couldn't believe what he had heard," Are you sure, Sally? You're saying that your son Percy killed you himself."

Sally then recounted her whole experience and said," Even though his face was burnt very badly, I can never forget those eyes. Those beautiful sea green eyes of his have always had a charm of their own. Yes, I'm very sure that I was killed by my own son and not some monster or complete stranger. Now I can say that my life is complete."

Hades felt very sad hearing this, since a great mortal had died, but he had to report this newest development to Olympus. So he dropped the souls of Sally and Paul at Elysium, Iris Messaged Nico to come quickly to the Underworld and then Hades teleported to his personal quarters to think about everything that had happened so far.

But one thing was sure; if he was right then Olympus wasn't safe anymore; instead it had just traded one dangerous enemy for another, someone who could completely destroy Greek Mythology.

**Somewhere in Tartarus – Unknown POV**

"Ahhh, my power. Finally, the signal of Kronos comes. It's quite faint but it's there alright. Now all I have to do is climb out of Tartarus and merge with whoever has inherited my power, while my present host will kill all those arrogant demigods.

Then I will be in my complete form and then no one, not even the mighty Olympians will be able to stop me from completing my original mission - erasing those petty gods from existence itself and forcing each one of them to fade forever. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

**And here it is the third chapter. Will Percy really kill all the demigods that he worked so hard to save? And who is this voice that commands him what to do and what not to? And what role does this entity in Tartarus play in the act? Keep reading – and reviewing – to find out more. **


	4. Chapter 4

**I can see that the third chapter of my story was quite good as I finally started getting reviews, follows and favorites. Anyways, congratulations to **DeathmatchDrunkard **for guessing the weapon that Percy now uses. He is the one who gets the virtual cookie. The weapon is Backbiter. Anyways, this is the fourth chapter of my story. Read on!  
**

* * *

**In Athena's Great Library**

Athena was in her great library, searching for something, anything which might give her a clue as to what had happened to Perseus, but to no avail.

This was one of the few times that some situation had the wisdom goddess stumped. She burrowed her eyebrows in sheer anger and irritation when there was a flash near her and the King of the Seas appeared.

"Well, well, well. This is a surprise. Hello Uncle Poseidon, what brings you here to my library? Do you wish to read something? mocked Athena.

Poseidon was silent for the next few moments, his face emotionless, after which he replied," If I wanted to read something, the Atlantean Library is suited enough to my needs. But let's skip the formalities of insulting each other and get straight to the point. Has your daughter awoken?

Athena was shocked by the straightforwardness of Poseidon and that he didn't want to argue with her, but seeing that he was quite saddened by the death of his wife, Sally and the disappearance of his son, Percy, she decided not to tease him, for now.

So she shrugged and said," Maybe, I don't know. In fact, I need to go and check upon her. After all, she is the one who knows what really happened to Perseus. And also, Poseidon, I am sorry about Sally's death. From what everybody says, I gather that she was a wonderful woman and was the reason for Perseus' good upbringing and the qualities that he now has in his personality. You have my condolences."

Poseidon just nodded and then asked," And did you find out anything as to how Percy lost his memory and has now disappeared?"

Athena then said in a frustrated voice," There is nothing here. No book which can tell me if there were methods of making someone forget who they are and then become someone else entirely. As much as I hate to say this, I didn't find anything at all. There is just no plausible explanation and we already know that becoming immortal doesn't harm anybody either physically or mentally." Athena closed her eyes and sighed.

"WHAT! YOU ARE THE WISDOM GODDESS FOR ZEUS' SAKE! HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT SOMETHING? HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID!" shouted Poseidon in a voice that shook Olympus, once again, and surely everyone would have heard him shouting at Athena.

Athena was shaken up and frozen right in her place, staring at Poseidon with fear in her eyes. Poseidon knew then and there that he had crossed a line by shouting at her for no reason.

So, Poseidon said grudgingly," I'm … sorry. If you like, we can go to the Atlantean Library. It contains books of many historical secrets and spells from the time of the Primordial Beings that might help you. My assistants are searching for a solution as hard as they can but none of them possess the intellect that you do." acknowledged Poseidon.

Athena was shocked again! It was the first time Poseidon was admitting that Athena was smart. Today was really a day of exceptions. But instead she sneered and said," And why would I go to some rag-tag library when I can search for answers in my own library. Your library must be as big as a broom closet."

Poseidon was keeping his anger in check; he was trying to be kind but it was not as easy as he thought it would be. "Athena, I'm trying to offer a hand of friendship, so that we can dissolve our millennia old rivalry. I accept that the people of Athens chose you. But what's done is done. Let bygones be bygones. I want to start afresh."

Athena was amazed. It was not every day that one of the big three put their pride down and admitted that someone was better than them. And Poseidon saying something smart! So Athena said," I guess it must be really difficult for you, putting your pride down and apologizing. And your right – there's no harm in dissolving our rivalry and starting anew."

Poseidon put his hand forward and Athena shook it and then asked," Does your library really have books containing information since the time of the Primordial Beings? And does father know about it?"

"Yes, there are quite a number of books like that. I have no reason to lie to you now, do I? And as for Zeus, well every god has some secrets right, this is one of mine. " said Poseidon, with the hint of a smile on his face, the first he had had since Perseus was declared missing.

Suddenly there was a bright flash and somebody else too appeared in the library. That somebody being Apollo. The minute he saw Poseidon and Athena together he stepped back, expecting a full-out fight, but was surprised to see that no weapons were being fired.

So he asked in a surprised tone," Uncle Poseidon, what are you doing in a library? Especially Athena's library? And Athena, your okay with this? Why aren't you two fighting? I heard uncle shouting at Athena in such a loud voice, I could hear it in Hecate's palace!"

Poseidon splashed water on Apollo's face, momentarily stopping him," Cool down Apollo, we were just talking about Percy and how to get more information on his current dilemma."

"Oooooo, well, about that, I'm sorry to say that Hecate and I couldn't find any cure that could heal Percy. And by the way, isn't that the only reason you two would talk to each other without being at each other's throat? And here I thought that you had become friends. How stupid of me." said Apollo, and then he started laughing at the thought of Athena and Poseidon being friends.

Poseidon and Athena chuckled and Poseidon said," Well Apollo, it's alright. Athena and I have decided to dissolve our rivalry and start afresh. We would like to test a new acquaintanceship between us. So we were going to the Atlantean Library to see if we could find any information."

Apollo made his jaw drop magically to the floor and his eyes widen to an extent which was not possible if someone was not a god. He then said," You got to be kidding me. You two decided to be friends? Oh, this is big, no wait, this is huuuuuuge and the whole of Olympus should know about it. Poseidon and Athena are finally friends."

And as Apollo was getting ready to teleport, Athena caught him by his throat and said," Oh you, my sweet brother are coming with us. First we are going to the infirmary. I need to check on Annabeth and see if she's awake or not, though she should be. Otherwise we shall go to the Atlantean Library and see if we can find any information there. " and Athena grabbed Poseidon's shoulder and together they all flashed out of there.

**In the Underworld**

Nico hurried to the personal quarters of his father, and he was running because no one, not even the son of Hades wants to take the summons of Hades lightly.

Also this was only the second time that he was invited to his father's personal quarters. The first time he had seen it was when he was being given a tour of the whole palace by a Fury and it was fascinating.

Normally, only Hades himself and Persephone can enter the room, and no one is allowed to go inside. But here was Nico, who had no idea why he was being called except that his father mentioned that this conversation would be about Percy.

And Hades had sounded urgent, very urgent. So when Nico reached the entrance to the quarters, he saw his father standing outside, talking to a guard,"….. should hear us. This conversation has to remain confidential."

When Hades saw him, he sent the guard away and ushered Nico in. Then Hades went to close the doors and all Nico could do was gape at the beauty and size of the room. The room was as big as half the throne room at Olympus. Torches of hellfire and Greek fire burning all around the room; and the bed, double the size of a normal king – sized one, made the room look like a neat, little representation of the underworld.

The sheets were black in color with the pillows being green representing both Hades and Persephone. The floor was made of mosaic marble and there was a study table made of Stygian Iron in the corner.

Also there was a door which was closed but which led to the bathroom, which was as big as 4 Jacuzzis. By the time Hades came back, Nico's jaw had dropped to the floor. Hades, in his ever so serious voice, started talking straight to the point," Son, I guess you have reached the same conclusions that I have about Jackson. He has become immortal and is the murderer of Sally Jackson, Paul Blowfish and the guard and is also the one who killed the blessed mortal and the nymph at Olympus."

"Even though I have thought about it Dad, I'm not so sure; I mean, Percy would never do that. His fatal flaw is personal loyalty and we all know that it is very difficult to act against that trait of ours. He would never do that to anyone, especially his own mother and Paul." said Nico.

"In normal circumstances I would say your right but ….." said Hades, stopping all of a sudden.

"But what dad?" probed Nico.

Hades began talking again but in a hushed tone," I had a talk with Sally's soul in the Judgment Court. She told me that Percy was the one who killed her and Paul. His face was badly burnt and his eyes were his only recognizable feature. Now how would she know this if Percy didn't kill her?" explained Hades.

But Nico protested saying," Even then dad, why would he kill his own mother? He has no reason to do so." Then Hades continued," Son, don't tell this to anyone but the council thinks that Kronos somehow changed Percy using the last of his life force, his very essence as a fuel. Percy's memory is all scrambled up and there are only a few bits and pieces left.

All details are not yet certain but Athena, Apollo and Hecate are working on it. Zeus has dispatched Artemis and the hunters to hunt for Percy. Right now, I haven't told anybody of my suspicions but sooner or later, I will have to reveal them. Until then, you will not tell anybody anything about this conversation of ours. Percy's condition will remain a mystery to the other demigods until later. Am I understood?"

Nico stood straight and said," Yes father, nobody will hear about Percy from my mouth. But will Percy be alright?" "MY LORD, MY LORD7, MY LORD, come quick my lord" shouted the guard stationed outside the quarters.

Hades and Nico rushed out at once and came upon a Fury who was flying above the guard. Hades asked," What happened? Didn't I tell you that my son and I were not to be disturbed?"

The guard was about to reply when the Fury said," My lord, it is not his fault, I have two pieces of disturbing news for you. There is a soul in the Judgment Court that claims to have seen Percy Jackson. Also there is great unrest in Tartarus, my lord, evil power is being drawn into the pit with every passing second."

"What" said Hades. He started wondering which being would be strong enough to come out of Tartarus right now after such a huge war. But he said," Let us see what that soul has got for us. Come my son, you could learn a few tricks along the way."

After reaching the courtroom, Hades immediately saw the soul that was being held off by guards by long spears. Hades waved them off and walked right up to the soul and said," Tell me everything you know right now or else I will sentence you to the worst punishment that there is."

Al, for it was him, that was being interrogated, said," My name is Al and I used to live on the streets of Manhattan. Today I was robbing people who had just woken up from sleep when my gang and I stumbled upon this teenager with a horribly burnt face. He was carrying this pen with him and he appeared slightly blurred to me. We tried to stop him but he went past us without even looking. When I called out to him in hopes of making him turn and be cautious, he ignored me and kept walking.

I thought that his ignorance would make decrease my reputation so I hit him from behind when he swung the pen at me which turned out to be a sword. We fought for a few minutes and he had superhuman strength. I punched him many times and it was like punching a steel wall, I hurt myself.

He threw me kicked me and backhanded me and I crashed into the wall like a ragdoll. He then cut my lef hand, then my right hand and in my last ditch effort I head butted him, hoping to stun him for a few seconds and make a quick getaway.

Instead I bust my own head open and fall right on the ground. I couldn't even get up because I had no hands and he left me there, probably to die by blood loss." " You still think Percy hasn't changed?" Hades asked Nico. "His description of Percy is as accurate as any."

Nico didn't answer but kept staring at the soul. Hades shook his head and ordered the guards to throw the soul into the Field of Punishments. The man had a horrified look on his face and he kept begging and pleading, "But I told everything, I told you everything."

**Line Breaker**

It was close to midnight and this was the time when Artemis was at her strongest. She and her hunt were camping in a forest having followed the trails left by the murderer which led her to believe that the person who was responsible for 5 murders so far was in fact a teenager, or more precisely, Perseus.

She had thought that he would be different, that he was not selfish or a chauvinist pig and actually respected women. He had traits in his character like loyalty, honesty and that childlike innocence which made even the darkest times brighter.

Now Artemis didn't harbor any kind of feelings towards the boy, after all, he was still a _boy. _She just thought he was different from the rest. But she was interrupted from her train of thought when she heard a voice," My Lady, My lady, come quick."

Artemis ran out of her tent and raced towards the voice to see Thalia, her lieutenant, and a new hunter, Tanya, daughter of Hermes, standing near a river with 5-6 bodies around them. She grimaced as she reached there, for the bodies were nothing more than a tangled mess of body parts with blood and flesh strewn all over the place.

She then asked," When did you find … this?" and Thalia replied, "We had come here to take a bath and refresh ourselves when we saw all these bodies littered around here. I personally think it's a Cyclops that appeared here and killed the mortals."

"No, no, no, it was not a Cyclops, for a Cyclops would eat the mortals up. I think this is another sign of that murderer on the loose." said Artemis.

"But My lady, why would that murderer kill mortals? And how would he kill mortals and nymphs with the same weapon? And how would that person have come here" protested Thalia. "And there are only footsteps of somebody coming to this bank. That can't tell us much except that the person came here on foot. You can see for yourself."

Artemis bent down and inspected the mud, taking a few particles of the substance and rolling it in her hand. "I don't know how we could kill mortals and non-mortals with the same weapon but we could know when we meet him. And although there are no signs of _him_ coming" said Artemis, forcing the word 'him', "for all we know he could have come out of the river or from the trees. Let me check."

And then Artemis started whistling which Thalia recognized as a method to talk to night birds. After waiting for some time, there was another sound of whistling and a bird came out from the tree and perched on Artemis' now extended palm.

Then the bird and Artemis had a conversation in the language of whistle, which ended with the bird flying back to the tree. Artemis turned around and said, "Well, that settles it. The bird said that she saw a man, with a sword in his hand (I didn't know if animals are affected by the mist or not, so in my story they are not), come near the river and stand on the bank, motionless the whole time. Then he suddenly jumped into the river and stayed there. After a few minutes a few people, who might have been a family, came into the view and sat down. The man then quickly stepped out of the river and the whole group could do nothing but stare. The man got to work and quickly butchered through the whole group within a matter of minutes. He then started hacking individual body parts of one person and then ate them all."

After hearing this, Tanya, who had been quite till now, started puking and it was all Thalia could do to not roll her eyes and comment at the weakness of her fellow hunter. Artemis sent a beam of energy and teleported Tanya out of there and into the infirmary tent. Then she continued, "Well, after that the bird just stopped seeing so for all we know, the man could have gone ….. Wait. Thalia, check if there are any footsteps on the other side of the bank."

Thalia quickly went and came back and refused, saying that the mud was all clean. "So that means that the murderer is still here somewhere. He's still lurking around. Quick go and call the hunters, I will keep a lookout and see if I can find him or not." deduced Artemis.

Thalia quickly ran in the direction of the camp while Artemis stood there, calmly readying her bow and drawing an arrow from her magically appearing quiver and placing it in her bow. "I know you're here. Just come out, we don't need to play this game for long."

She waited for a sound or movement, anything which might signal somebody's presence but nothing. It seemed as if the murderer had somehow gone away without walking. Suddenly she heard an animalistic groan from behind her and she jumped in front, then turned around, ready to shoot….. nothing.

There was nothing and it was all silent once again. Then she heard he sounds of running and turned around to see her hunters come with their bows and arrows drawn, ready to be used. Phoebe was the first one to break the silence, "Where is he, My Lady, where is he? I will kill him and shoot all my arrows into his worthless body."

Artemis said in a calm voice, "Calm down Phoebe. Do not take this man so lightly for he is very, very strong. He has killed many people already on both Olympus and down here and has escaped without even the slightest of a noise. We have to be careful with this particular hunt."

Phoebe was about to say something when a hunter screamed and they all looked at her to see a man with a horribly burnt face and blood surrounding his mouth standing there twisting the sword which cut the hunter's hand into two halves.

He had grabbed the hunter's throat with his other hand and was pressing it hard, making the hunter choke and flail around for air. Nobody could shoot the man because he was standing with the hunter's body protecting him.

Some of the other new hunters puked at seeing the man's face and even Thalia had a hard time controlling herself. So she instead shouted, "You coward, how dare you. Attacking a hunter from behind her back. At least have the decency to give her a painless death, you bastard."

During that time Artemis had moved a bit giving her just enough of a view to shoot his shoulder. And Artemis took that opportunity. She shot as fast as she could and struck the man. But the arrow just bounced of his skin and fell in the floor making the man aware of her position.

He looked at her and all she could do to not puke was to concentrate on his eyes. His eyes were sea green and had a tint of redness surrounding the iris. She knew only two people whose eyes were sea green in color, her uncle Poseidon and his son, Perseus.

She knew in an instant that killing Percy would be a blunder on her part and she also had to do something to end the torture that her hunter was suffering. So with all the willpower that she could summon, she shot her own hunter in the heart, thereby freeing her of all pain.

**Two hours ago**

Percy had been walking the whole day and was now nearing a forest when he felt a new emotion – hunger. He wanted to eat something so he walked towards the direction in which his gut told him to go. He soon came upon a river and stood there frozen, listening to the voice in his head say that he should jump in the river and wait and that a delicious meal would soon come his way.

So he jumped and waited. While inside the river he caught a few of the creatures that were swimming around and ate them. All the while he could hear these little voices in his head which were saying, "Son of Poseidon eating fish, son of Poseidon eating fish."

After a while he again heard the voice say, "Go." So he jumped out of the river and saw a family just sitting there and staring at him. He didn't like people staring at him so he swung his sword at the person nearest to him and continued all the way till everybody was dead. Then he cut the hands of one person and started eating them. He loved the taste and so he kept eating. After that, he cut the body parts of the other bodies too, just for fun. Then he heard voices coming and the voice told him to hide so he quickly ran away and hid behind a tree about a few hundred meters away and sat still, not making a sound.

He then waited for a long time when the voice in his head told him to round the whole area and attack the people who would be standing near the river. And he did just that.

**Now…**

Thalia had had many surprises in her whole life and she had been through a lot. But when she saw the beautiful sea green eyes of the person who had just killed a hunter, she instantly knew it was her cousin and that he was no more the Percy that she used to know.

She was now filled with anger at Kronos for turning Percy into something he was not and she had no one to take her anger out on except Percy himself. So when Artemis shot at Percy and he got distracted, he lowered his guard and all the hunters who were in possession of their physical selves shot at him continuously.

Percy was still holding the now dead hunter and even though he couldn't get hurt, he was being forced back from the attack. All the arrows were bouncing off him but he was still getting irritated. So he threw the dead hunter at the others and then ran toward Artemis who was quite away from the other group. And while all the other hunters were trying to get their bows and arrows in possession which had been mixed up when the hunter's body fell among them, Percy engaged the goddess of the moon and the hunt in a fight.

Artemis put her bow away and calmly took out her hunting knifes. She then waited for Percy to come and then she slashed at him, and he just stabbed at her with his sword. Artemis deflected the strike with her second knife and then slashed at his face.

But Percy caught the knife with his bare hand and then the whole battle came down to who would be the more powerful one. Artemis was surprised as she didn't expect Percy to do that. Both the combatants started trying to take the knife from each other but then Percy used his whole strength and started to overpower the goddess.

"What insane strength is this?" thought Percy But Artemis was one to lose so easily. She suddenly let go of the knife and Percy stumbled forward from the force he had been applying. Artemis took the opportunity and kicked Percy in the head and Percy crashed into a nearby tree. He got up with amazing speed and shook his head, then ran at the goddess.

Artemis was now ready. She would finish this once and for all. She quickly gripped the one hunting knife she had and got into a stance. But Percy suddenly stopped and threw the knife he had taken from Artemis at Artemis. She was surprised but caught the knife.

When she looked back at the position where Percy was standing, she saw nobody. Instead she heard another loud scream and turned around to see that Percy had stabbed another one of her hunters in the back and then cut her head off and quickly grab it before it fell.

All the other hunters, who had now sorted themselves, were standing away to see the fight between the man and their lady. What they didn't expect was for the man to instead run towards them with the speed even a hunter would envy.

Percy quickly ran away and felt the arrows, once again, bounce of his back and head. He knew that in a one on one battle Artemis would have crushed him. But his aim had never been to take on the goddess. He had just wanted to kill another hunter and then run away and he was successful.

The hunters were about to give chase to the man when they were stopped by Artemis herself. She said, "Don't follow him girls, he will kill you all and you wouldn't be able to even scratch him. Trying to go behind him alone is to invite death."

"But my lady, he killed Tracy and Ginny. He killed two hunters. How can we let him escape after doing such a deed?" protested Phoebe.

But before Artemis could say anything, Thalia said, "Artemis is right. He is too strong for us hunters. Our arrows would just bounce of his skin and he would butcher us to death. Only a god or goddess can defeat him and right now we need to give our fellow hunters a proper funeral rite. After we will hunt him again with only vengeance in our minds.'

Phoebe was about to retort when she was silenced from a glare by Artemis who then said, "Come on girls, let's go to camp and call it a night. Tomorrow we will perform the funeral rites and then return to our hunt."

**Somewhere in Tartarus**

"My champion still lives. And he challenged the hunt and also killed two of them. And he also fought with the hunt goddess, not bad, not bad at all. But I still need more power, I need more death, otherwise I cannot escape this prison. And then I will take my revenge. I will make those puny gods wish that they had never won the war, and Olympus shall be mine. I shall once again rule on Olympus. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA."

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**Well fellow readers, that's it for now. But can anyone tell me who the entity in Tartarus is? He is someone who is not there in many myths but even the Titans were scared to take his name. And why did Percy eat the fishes in the river? Stay tuned!  
****And don't forget to review. The updates will be long and regular.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I have to say I'm both sad and happy. Happy, because my story is getting reviews but sad because out of the 450+ views of my story, I have only got 7 views by 3 people, out of which, one was a guest reviewer. I would like to thank **Quirkista **and **DeathmatchDrunkard **for showing interest in my story and pointing out both the negative and** **positive aspects. I'm not saying you review every chapter. I'm just saying that you review once every 2-3 chapters, whenever you feel I'm doing good or pathetic. I don't mind what feedback I get.  
Anyways, here's the 5****th**** chapter. Enjoy!**

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**Near the edge of Tartarus**

Hades and Nico were standing around the dark abyss, called Tartarus, which housed some of the most evil entities in the history of Greek Mythology. The Furies and a few monsters were also present but were not as brave enough as to venture near the edge. But all could feel power being literally drawn into the pit as the wind was blowing faster and faster in the direction of the great abyss.

Even Hades was astounded when he had heard the news that there was unrest in Tartarus, but he then pondered, what better time to attack Olympus when it is at its weakest? Hades had never felt this power before but knew that it was as powerful as Kronos himself, if not, more.

And Hades was scared. He would never admit it but he was scared.  
Nico, on the other hand, was not quite sure about how he should feel as this was the first time he had been with his father for so long without any arguments. But even he knew that the matter was very serious and was very much related to Percy, some way or the other.

Nico was the first one to break the silence, "Father, have you ever ventured into Tartarus?"

Hades replied, "No son, and one never should. You should get this idea out of your mind. Nobody, not even us gods, can go into Tartarus and live to tell about it. Even I don't know all creatures that lurk around in that hellhole. "

"Jeez dad, I was just asking. But then, what about the titans?" asked Nico. "They have been in Tartarus for millennia and yet can come out of it to fight wars."

"Let Zeus never hear you say it, but I personally think that we beat the titans by luck and that they are stronger than us gods. In an all out war they would crush us beneath their feet. In the first war we won using trickery and also in this war." revealed Hades.

Nico had no response to that personal outburst of his father. Instead he asked, "Will we ever be able to know what being is trying to come out, in time?"

Hades was quite for a few moments, after which he chuckled and said, "Well, we can wait for it to come out. Then everybody will know who it is. But frankly speaking, I have always been able to identify the owner of power that comes in or goes out Tartarus. But, this power is more ancient, darker, and more powerful. I have never felt this before."

Nico was now truly scared. If this enemy was even older then Kronos and more powerful, and if his own father was scared, then they were all doomed. After all, they were barely able to defeat Kronos. And they had Percy on their side. Speaking of Percy…., "Dad, do you think there is some connection between this other power and the change in Percy?" asked Nico.

"Humph, now that you mention it, they do seem a bit connected. Let me think, Kronos loses, Percy goes missing and starts killing people, and there are chances of another being coming out of Tartarus. It does sound suspicious…" pondered Hades.

"What if Kronos never injected Jackson with his own essence but with somebody else's?" murmured Hades. "It is certainly possible and that spell was lost with the defeat of the Titans. What if Jackson is the host of something else entirely and the reason he is killing everybody and anybody is to give power to that being? It is certainly a possibility. And because a part of it is already in the outer world, it will have little problem in rising out of Tartarus."

"Father, we need to think about it. What you are saying is completely illogical and makes no sense. If what you are saying is true, then we have got another war on our hands." stated Nico.

"Son, since you have known about your true heritage and the presence of a completely different world, have you seen no such thing that is completely illogical and certainly unrealistic?" asked Hades, rolling his eyes.

Nico decided to remain silent this time.

Then a Fury, who had een hearing all of this, hissed, "My Lorrrrd, what should beeeee our plan of actionnnn?"

Hades had a thoughtful look on his face for a few moments after which he replied, "Triple the guards. Lock all doors of hell. No one, except the dead, can enter the underworld. And no one except my son, my wife, and me can go in and out of here. Anybody else and you have my permission to kill them. Is that understood?"

"Yesssss my lord." said all Furies, with smirks on their faces.

Suddenly, there was laughter coming from the pit. Hades and Nico looked inside the it, with terrified looks on both their faces while the hellhounds ran away and the Furies started shivering. The wind speed increased as more power was drawn into the pit.

"You puny god, you really think that a few extra guards can stop me from rising? Me? You are very much mistaken, for my return is inevitable. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA. I have been locked up in Tartarus for uncountable millennia, but I was not idle. Oh, no, no. I was biding my time, when you gods would be at your weakest and then, like a snake, I would strike and destroy you all. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA. But let me give you a small preview of what is to come in your very recent future."

And then a beam of black energy came out of the pit and struck Nico and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Then the beam wrapped around his legs and dragged him back into Tartarus before anybody could react. 3 more beams came and struck the Furies in the chest and they exploded into golden dust.

And all Hades could do was gape as the faded words came from the pit, "And this is what shall happen to you pitiful gods and your offspring's. All either dragged into Tartarus or faded from existence. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH A."

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oo, my son. Give him back to me, you coward. Take me instead. Just give me my son back. Please." Hades was now kneeling on the floor with his hands joined and tears flowing out of his eyes with the speed of a river flowing downhill.

**Camp Half Blood – 2 days ago…**

Chiron had been living for many millennia and the one thing that hurt him the most was when the demigods got hurt. He treated them like his own children, no matter what their parentage, and he was always proud when a demigod would achieve something great.

But seeing the demigods lament for their dead brothers and sisters broke his heart nearly a million times over. So young, yet they had seen the horrors of a war. Wounds from physical pain were still healable, but emotional pain was 10 times worse. Nobody deserved this kind of a life, certainly not at this age. But what could Chiron do? He was just a trainer.

The burning of the shrouds of the dead demigods was a ceremony which was always held with the most of serenity and peace and the only voices that were heard were that of crying. When the time for the speeches came, only the head counselors were called so as to save time and so that this somber moment would not last for long.

After the speeches, a day off was given so that the mourning could be completed and from then on the reconstruction of camp would continue and usual camp activities would begin.

**Today …**

Chiron was going to the big house to IM Hermes and check on the situation regarding Percy. When Hermes came in the vision, Chiron bowed.

Hermes just nodded and said, "Hello Chiron, what makes you want to see me? Is anything wrong? Don't tell me Travis and Connor again burned your tail. I would hate to see them cleaning the stables of Olympus all by themselves for a month."

"No, my lord, nothing of this sort has happened, yet." Replied Chiron, chuckling. "I just wanted to check in on the situation regarding Percy and see if there has been any new development. Are there any leads on the whereabouts of Percy?"

Hermes eyes glazed over for a moment, after which he sighed and said, "No Chiron, but there has been some discussion and we have arrived at the conclusion that as of right now, Perseus is no longer on the side of Olympus as his memory has been completely scrambled and destroyed. If he had any special emotions for a certain somebody, I'm sorry to say that those feelings are also gone. Also, Athena, Apollo, and Hecate are searching for a cure. Percy is now immortal. We are going to have a council meeting in the next 2 hours and if there is any new information, you will be informed. And make sure none of the demigods get to know about this, we don't want to create panic. They have just come out of a war and deserve some rest."

Chiron was pretty shook up after hearing the news but he managed to bow once again and say thank you, and then slash his hand through the mist to cut the connection. He started mumbling, "Percy, my special, special boy….."

And as he turned around, he saw the horrified looks of Katie and a younger child of Demeter, Taylor. They were both standing there, Katie with her mouth open and eyes wide and the Taylor with her eyes about to leak a whole river of tears.

Katie then said, "We came here to surprise you and give you the good news that the construction of the Poseidon cabin is complete, first, in honor of Percy. But I guess it was a complete waste of time as Cabin 3 won't have a use anymore, right? After all Percy is gone, and he even doesn't remember anybody at all. Tell me Chiron, when were you going to tell us all? Today, tomorrow, next week …. When, Chiron, when? Those demigods out there are working their ass of so that they can build a home again. A home for which Percy gave his life up, not once, not twice, but many, many times ….. they deserve to know Chiron, they deserve to know. But will you tell them? No. As always you want to wait for the right time." her voice climbing to tones of anger, disappointment and fury.

Then she shook her head and said in a sweet voice to Taylor, "Come on, little girl, let's go." Taylor nodded her head; they grabbed each other's hands and walked out of there.

Chiron was shocked. He didn't know what to do. Not anymore. Everything was a mess. Camp was broken, Percy was missing, somebody was killing both mortals and immortals, and the Katie and Taylor found about Percy.

This was one of those few times when he just wanted to go far away and take some well deserved rest from his millennia of work. But he just sighed, poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down to read a book.

**Throne Room**

Annabeth was just waking up, when she realized where she was and quickly got up and dusted down her clothes. She then apologized to Hestia for sleeping on her lap and making her sit in the same posture for hours.

But Hestia just smiled and said, "Child, I am used to sitting like this for hours. It was in fact pleasurable, seeing the Heroine of Olympus get her well deserved rest."

Annabeth just blushed and looked anywhere but at Hestia's face. Hestia grinned and said, "There is going to be a council meeting in 5 minutes and you should wait here. The Olympians would like to talk to you."

Annabeth was confused and asked why.

Then Hestia said, albeit sadly, "You should know, after all you were the only one who was present in the Throne Room when Kronos did what he did to Percy."

Annabeth just nodded, reminiscing that one particular memory of a very recent and painful incident.

Then there were 12 flashes of light as the Olympians teleported onto their thrones. None of them was happy, as they all had lost quite some of their children. Zeus looked around the room and said in his loud voice, "Where is Hades? Why has he not come? Does anybody know?"

Nobody responded and Zeus just murmured something inaudible then said, "We are here to discuss on the situation regarding Perseus Jackson. As we all know, he is now immortal but was declared missing when Apollo went to check up on him during the victory celebration."

He was interrupted by a gasp by Annabeth who just started crying, and buried her face into Hestia's arms. Zeus cleared his throat and continued, "My daughter, Artemis, reported that she had an encounter with Perseus. Artemis, please tell everybody else what happened."

"Yes father" said Artemis, her emotionless. "My hunters and I were camping in a forest near a river, 2 days ago. It was around midnight when I heard a hunter shouting and calling me. I quickly ran to her. There were 2 hunters, namely Thalia and Tanya, standing on the bank of the river with dead bodies littered around them. The bodies were hacked into several pieces and there were many footprints in the mud, probably of a whole group. I called a bird by whistling and asked her if she had seen what happened. The bird said that she did. She said that a man had come with a sword inn his hand. The man stood on the bank for some time and then jumped in the river. After some time, a group of people, probably a family came and sat down on the bank to rest. The man then came out of the river and killed all the people. Then, he cut the arms of one person and ate them."

Aphrodite interrupted, "He ate body parts of humans. Yuck! That must be a very disgusting, disgusting man. Even I wouldn't give him a makeover."

Artemis snapped, "Shut up, bitch. Can't you ever think of anything else except makeovers, you dumb slut."

Aphrodite gasped but didn't retort back. Everybody else was surprised because Artemis tended to ignore conversations when Aphrodite was included and rarely ever talked to her, let alone snap at her.

Then she took a few deep breaths and continued, "Then he cut the limbs of the others just like that, but then he suddenly ran away. That's what the bird saw. After hearing this, I sent Thalia to the other side of the bank to check if there were any footprints of a person going back into the forest. There were none. Even on my side of the river, the footprints were only going towards the river, none were going away. So I deduced that the man was still there and was hiding somewhere. I sent Thalia back to the camp to get the hunters. I took out my bow and arrow and called out to that petty excuse for a human. But all I heard was silence. By then my hunters had come and they drew their weapons and waited. Suddenly we heard a hunter screaming and turned around to see a man with a burnt face holding the hunter by her throat and having cut her arm off with his sword. She was screaming very loudly and all we could do was stare as he held the poor girl. She was in so much pain."

Then Artemis started crying and nobody said a word. Everybody was quite and giving each uneasy looks. Then Artemis wiped her tears and continued, "Well, Thalia started shouting at him and he got distracted and looked at her. I moved away from the group, slowly, to get a better viewpoint to shoot at him. When I moved, I saw that he had sea-green eyes with a tinge of red on their sides. And only 2 people have eyes of that exact color. So, I concluded that that man had to be Perseus."

"NO, my son would never kill anybody innocent. You are lying, Artemis. How dare you say something like that about my son?"Poseidon got off his throne, his trident appeared in his hand and he advanced towards Artemis.

Zeus and Apollo got up and stood in front of Artemis, who just sunk back into her throne. The 3 gods started having a glaring contest when Athena put her hand on Poseidon's shoulder and said, "Cool down, Poseidon, and think about it with a calm mind. She has nothing against Perseus, so why would she want to pin such a serious allegation on him? "

All Olympians had a surprised look on his face and Apollo just snickered. They were all astounded as to the fact that Athena even touched Poseidon and gave him advice properly, and that Poseidon didn't start arguing and fighting with the wisdom goddess.

Poseidon threw one last look at Artemis and then walked back to his own throne and sat down with a huff. Zeus, Apollo and Athena also returned and then Athena said, "Continue Artemis, you were saying that you thought that the man was Perseus."

Artemis looked around and then said, "Well, yes and then I shot at his shoulder but the arrow just bounced off his shoulder. And only one with the Curse of Achilles can block one of my godly arrows. But then his attention turned to me, and to relieve my hunter of her pain, I shot her in the heart."

Artemis again became quiet, as everybody knew how hard it must have been for her. The hunters were like her own children and she treated them as such. Having to kill one of them herself, must have been very difficult.

Artemis shook her head and continued, "Then he threw the dead body at the other hunters, and ran towards me to fight. We fought for a while and he had become very, very strong. I managed to push him back, but he had taken one of my hunting knifes. I kicked him into a tree, at a distance, but it was as if he didn't feel it at all. He just stood and ran towards me. Then he stopped and threw the knife at me. I was surprised and caught the knife but by then he got past me, ran towards one of the hunter with a lot of speed and stabbed her. Then he cut her head and ran away. He had managed to kill 2 hunters in less than 10 minutes with less than no trouble.

Everybody was worried. If this killer was Percy, then he had been responsible for the death of everyone.

"But that means that Percy killed Sally and Paul, why would he ever do that?" this came from Annabeth, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time. "He would never kill his own mother, no matter what."

Then Hestia said, "Annabeth, dear, tell us what happened in the throne room. Tell us everything."

Annabeth nodded and then started speaking, "Well, Percy had just given Luke my knife and Luke had stabbed himself in his Achilles Point. And then he fell down. Percy and I were kneeling down near Luke and I was talking to him in his final moments. He then told Percy that the demigods should be claimed and that there should not be more demigods, unclaimed, in the Hermes cabin anymore. But suddenly, his blue eyes were replaced by the golden ones of Kronos. Kronos extended his hand into Percy's face and it went straight inside. Then Percy's eyes glazed over and these hideous burns appeared on his face. And then he fell down. By then, everybody else had come in." Annabeth had started crying again and so had Poseidon.

There was silence. Nobody had excepted this. Nobody knew what to say. Suddenly, there was a huge flash of light and it was completely black. And Hades appeared in the room. Zeus stood up and started shouting, "Hades. How dare you make a mockery of the council by appearing late? How dare you? I will make sure that you are completely banished from Olympus"

"Shut the hell up, Zeus! I'm not here to listen to your rant. My son…." Hades started sobbing all of a sudden. "My son has been dragged into Tartarus."

The whole council stood up. Hades continued, "There is somebody else. Some other being is trying to come out of Tartarus. It needs death to give itself power. And some of its essence is in that boy, Jackson. Jackson kills people, and the more he kills, the more power that being gets. And let me tell you, Olympians, I am going to kill that boy, immortal or not. I am going to destroy that creature and erase it from existence. And nobody can stop me."

And then, just like that, Hades was gone. There were murmurs of "Did you see? Hades was stronger." and "Oh, that poor, poor boy."

Then Zeus started saying, "As of now, Percy is now declared an enemy of Olympus and he shall be captured on sight. Any immortal who tries to help him will suffer severe consequences. Meeting Dismissed."

**In the outskirts of Manhattan, 17 miles from Camp Half Blood**

Percy was standing, seeing the city and smirking. When Percy had escaped from the hunters, he had run for a few kilometers before stumbling out in the open, and reaching the outskirts of Manhattan. He then sat down, kept his sword by his side and held out the hunters head.

He used his fingers to pry out the eyes and put them in his mouth, chewing them and relishing at the taste. He then tore of the lips and ears and ate them too. He drank the blood that had started dripping out. He started peeling out the skin and ate it as well, bit by bit, and piece by piece.

He then ripped open the head and took out the grey matter, the brain. He ate it slowly, swallowing every piece and digesting it properly. He took out the skull, broke it and licked each piece of bone till they were shining white.

He threw the rest, for it was all hair and teeth, and he didn't like that. And then he fell down, exhausted. And he had a dream.

In his dream he was in a dark place and he couldn't even see his own outstretched hands. It was completely black. And then there was a booming sound of laughter which seemed to come from everywhere. Percy looked around confused.

Then the laughter stopped and the voice started speaking, "My champion, you're doing good, in fact, you are doing great. You have given me a lot of power in a very short period of time. Just keep killing more people and soon I will be free of these bonds. In the mean time I want you to stay where you are, for Hades is looking for you. And he has some nasty ideas. But don't worry, it may hurt a bit, but what he does to you won't kill you, instead you will become stronger, much stronger and completely invincible. Just stay put my champion, and keep on killing."

Percy woke up. And he followed the orders of the voice from Tartarus. He stayed in the same area for the next few days, just going around for people to kill and eat sometimes raw meat of the animals too.

One day he was very tired after coming from chasing a deer and eating it. He decided it was nap time. He lay down on the hard ground and slept instantly. He felt as if there was something being poured on his head. So he opened his eyes and some of the liquid seeped into his eyes and he had a burning sensation in his head which kept on increasing, and then in his whole body.

And then Percy was picked up by the throat and into the air. He slowly opened his eyes to see the dark onyx colored ones of Hades, who was glaring at him. Then the god of the underworld started speaking, "Peek-a-Boo. I finally found you. You are the reason my son is in Tartarus, the reason why somebody else is getting power to come out of Tartarus, well news flash Jackson. You still haven't been on my bad side. And people don't like it when they are on my bad side. You better start praying, for your end is near, very near. I will destroy you, and even your immortality won't be able to stop me." By the end, Hades had a maniacal grin in his eyes.

Hades picked up Backbiter and thrust it into Percy's abdomen. "You feel pain, Yeah; I know that you're feeling pain. After all, you give so much of it to others. I poured water mixed from the Rivers Acheron and Phlegethon on you. The river Phlegethon is the river of fire; it will burn away your Curse of Achilles and the water from river Acheron, the river of pain, well, that's just for the pain."

Percy didn't feel any pain. But if he did, he didn't react at all. Hades didn't like that, so he disappeared into a bright flash of black light.

**On the bank of River Styx**

Hades appeared on the bank of River Styx and slammed Percy into the ground. Then he took out Backbiter from Percy's body and stabbed him in the chest, again. Percy just kept lying on the ground and Hades kept stabbing him with the sword till he got tired.

Then he stabbed him for the last time and stepped back, taking quick short breaths. And Percy quickly got up. He stood up as if nothing ever happened and locked his eyes with those of Hades. This action only fueled Hades' anger who again grabbed Percy by the throat.

But this time Percy was ready. Percy immediately kicked Hades in the knees and Hades was down kneeling. Then Percy kicked him in the head and Hades fell down. Then Percy began tugging at the sword in his chest, trying to pull it out.

By this time, Hades had got up and he stretched out his hand. And the Sword of Hades (remember: from the Demigod Files) appeared in his hands. And that is the reason Hades had seemed stronger to the Olympians. He then waited for Percy to turn around.

Percy was finally successful in pulling out the sword from himself. He gripped the sword tightly and turned around only to get stabbed in the forehead by Hades' sword. Percy felt as if his life was being sucked out of him, literally. He pushed himself away from Hades and stumbled back, nearing the edge of River Styx.

Hades came forward, grabbed Percy, by his clothes, by both hands and threw him in the River Styx, the Sword of Hades still stuck in his forehead.

**In Tartarus**

Nico had been falling from the past 2 hours but he still hadn't reached the ground. He murmured, "Tartarus must be reeeeally deep."

Suddenly he felt face first into the ground. He groaned loudly and stood up, when he could, and touched his ribs; broken, his nose; bleeding. He looked around but couldn't see anything.

So he kept staggering and trying to see something. Then he heard a laugh. And a voice, "So, son of Hades, you are finally here. Do not worry, the time you spend in this pit will be quite ….. eventful. You won't be bored at all."

Nico tried to summon some of his courage and shouted back, "Who are you? Why did you drag me into Tartarus? And why are you trying to destroy Olympus? What did they do to you? And are you the one who took control of Percy?"

"So many questions, young one." The voice chuckled. "My identity will remain a secret to you, for now. For even if I tell you my name, it would be of no use. I am so old, so forgotten, that my name is known only by the Primordial Beings and a few of the earliest titans. I dragged you into Tartarus to make your father suffer. And to cause strife among the Olympians, the main reason being Zeus' insolence. Yes, I am the one who has taken control of your friend, Perseus Jackson. He will do all my dirty work and by the time he is finished, the war will be as good as over. You gods don't have the inkling of an idea of who I am. And I attack Olympus because of vengeance. Of course, you're just a demigod; you wouldn't understand any of this. But know this, when I rise out of the pit, the age of gods will be doomed. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHA."

* * *

**I think this chapter was quite eventful wasn't it.  
Nico is in Tartarus; Hades used the Sword of Hades and threw Percy in the River Styx; and now all gods know who the murderer is.  
Katie and Taylor also know the partial truth. **

**Will they tell the other demigods? Will Nico survive Tartarus? Will Percy be alive or will he die in the River Styx? And nobody still told me who the entity in Tartarus is.**

**And guys please review. I won't threaten you all by saying I won't update and all to get reviews because I'm not that kind of a person. And that kind of bullshit never works anyways. The next chapter is all finished. I just need your reviews as inspiration to keep writing. Just 5 more reviews, total 12 reviews and I will know that you are reading my story and are genuinely interested. Otherwise what's the use of writing a story, if no one reads it?  
And multiple reviews by one person don't count. **

**This is Ringmasterisation signing of.  
Good Bye.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yo, I'm back. And here I have the 6****th**** chapter in this book.  
I want to say that whatever I wrote after the chapter in the previous update was just a rant. But I still got just one review. I told you I would post my chapter anyways; I'm not the threatening kind of a guy. I got 6-7 more favorites and followers but only 1 review. Come on, man, even you all are authors, you must know how it feels to not get reviews for a story that you are working hard on. And this is my first story, so please; some support would be seriously appreciated.**

**Chapter 6**

**The deepest chamber of Tartarus**

* * *

Children of Hades are thought to be fearless and very powerful, afraid of nothing as their father is the god of the underworld himself, the most feared god in Greek Mythology. And sitting in Tartarus in a chamber of darkness, with the company of nothing except a voice which spoke whenever it wanted, Nico wanted to tell everybody how correct they were.

Nico was actually enjoying this solitude, for the past 2 days, he hadn't felt hunger or fright and the darkness around him made him feel more secure and powerful, made him feel at home. 'The voice' had told him that if a mortal was in Tartarus, then that particular being would become immortal till he/she stayed in the pit, so that he/she wouldn't die during the torture.

After 2 days 'the voice' talked to Nico and told him to betray the gods and join the 'side of the winners'. Nico was surprised but he vehemently refused. What he didn't know was that this refusal would only make his stay worse.

From then on, Nico truly felt what Tartarus was like. Whenever Nico tried to sleep, 'the voice' of the still mysterious entity started laughing and talking in a deafening voice which made him want to get up and slap the person silly. And if Nico didn't listen, then the occasional Cyclops _somehow managed_ to enter the chamber, making him fight for his life.

Of course, Nico had contemplated suicide, but then the Cyclops wouldn't kill him. The Cyclops would just pick up Nico and throw him around, making him feel pain. The wounds would automatically heal themselves and this would continue till Nico killed the monster.

And 'the voice' showed Nico visions. Visions of his mother, Marie, and his sister, Bianca, coming back to life and of Hades killing them mercilessly. Visions of Percy destroying Olympus and killing all demigods. Visions of himself raping Artemis and the hunters again and again.

'The voice', as Nico called it, was currently reflecting its current state and how it had become what it was today. It had been in Tartarus since the rise of Kronos. It was very powerful indeed, but some foul deeds and betrayal by its close kin led to its demise and it was banished to Tartarus by a spell which could not be broken by just raw power.

So it waited, for eons it waited and sensed the world above it change and advance. Wars were fought, by both mortal and immortal and the rulers of the earth changed from the titans to the gods. It then watched the various wars the gods fought for their own survival.

All the time it kept collecting power and storing it for the one time when the rulers would be at their weakest.

The one thing that was needed to make sure that the spell was broken was that 'the mysterious entity' was summoned by its own essence from outside Tartarus. So it made a deal with Kronos and Percy became the host of a part of its essence.

Of course, it could have come out anytime it wanted from the time its essence got out of Tartarus but it didn't want to fail and die just because of some binding weakness like a host, like Kronos did. It would rise in its full incarnate form and then nobody would be able to defeat it.

Nico, in the meantime, was being tied down on one of the walls by dark beams of energy. He was very surprised and asked, "What, what is happening to me, why are you tying me to a wall?"

'The voice' then asked, "Nico, son of Hades, I wish to rise out of Tartarus and destroy the Olympians. Do you surrender your spirit and your free will to my cause?"

Nico just replied, "Are you mad? Didn't you hear what i said earlier? I am not going to join you. Why would I ever do that? My answer is and will remain no. You can do whatever you want, but I won't change my decision."

'The voice' just chuckled and said, "As you wish."

A gorgon then formed in the shadows, came near Nico and forced her tongue down his throat and started kissing him. Nico tried to move his mouth in disgust but the gorgon grabbed his face with both of her hands and because of his tied limbs, Nico was unable to do anything.

This continued on for a few more minutes after which the gorgon stopped. She smiled innocently and punched Nico's crotch. Nico's eyes widened in surprise and he screamed. Then the gorgon took out a knife and made small cuts on her right and her left hand. The blood from one hand is poison which can kill anything and from the other hand, it is a cure which can heal anything.

She dropped one drop of blood from each arm in the eyes of Nico, who screamed in pain. He tugged at the beams of energy but to no avail. He kept screaming and crying for a long time.

Then the voice started to speak, "The blood from the gorgon's arms won't kill you as they negate each other's effect. But the pain will remain. Surrender your will and your spirit to me and the pain will go away. Think about how your father did nothing when you were dragged into Tartarus. How Perseus let your sister die in the junkyard of the gods just because he didn't want to give up his own life. How Camp Half Blood and its inhabitants always treated you like an outcast just because of your parentage. How Zeus killed your mother because of his paranoia and his thirst for power. How you had to spend 80 years in a hotel, frozen in time, not moving backwards or forwards just because your father was afraid to fight his own brother."

Nico was quite for some time after which he raised his head replied, "All the things that you said are not true. You can torture me as much as you want to but I will never become your slave and see the world destroyed." Nico's voice had become hoarse from all the screaming.

"You misunderstand me demigod. I have no intention of harming the mortals; otherwise, who else would I rule? The only living beings who would feel my wrath are the current rulers of Olympus, which happen to be the Gods. The rest will go unharmed." said the voice in its calm tone.

The voice continued, "But if you still feel that I am wrong, then….."

The gorgon again dropped a single drop of her blood from each arm into Nico's eyes. And he again screamed in agony and anguish. He wished that somebody would help him, that somebody would end this torture and tell him that everything was going to be alright.

Then the ropes started moving forward in such a way that Nico was left hanging in the middle of the chamber. And the next monster that came in was no one else but Dr Thorn, the manticore. He had a whip in his hand which had burning thorns on the other end.

Then Dr Thorn whispered in Nico's ears, "I personally wish that you never say yes to my master, so I can torture you for the rest of eternity." And then he chuckled.

He then stood back, held out the whip and waited. 'The voice' then said, "Begin" and the manticore cracked it on Nico's back. Nico started screaming in pain but after sometime even the tears dried up. Nico was completely dehydrated.

Dr Thorn kept whipping Nico, till there was no skin left. Even then he continued, his whip cracking Nico's spine and breaking it in one go. Pieces of flesh and muscle and bone and pints of golden blood fell from inside Nico. The whole time Nico kept screaming so much that his vocal cords got torn and he couldn't scream anymore.

He would have slipped into unconsciousness had it not been for the power of 'the voice' that kept Nico awake the whole time.

Dr Thorn whipped Nico till the whip broke and got torn. The manticore then took out a another whip from nowhere and was going to continue whipping Nico when 'the voice' said, "That's enough for the first day. You will come back tomorrow and the same treatment will be issued if he doesn't concede to my demands."

"My Lord, can I hit the demigod one last time?" asked the manticore.

'The voice' was quite for some time and then it said, "Just one more strike."

The manticore smirked and then went to face Nico. Nico's eyes were closed and his head was moving from left to right and vice-versa, continuously. Dr Thorn took one poisonous thorn, gripped it very tightly and then stabbed Nico in the groin; "This is for making me fail in my mission and being punished by Kronos." spat the manticore.

Nico opened his mouth and screamed but no sound came out as his voice box was also broken. Then the manticore dissolved in a swirl of black dust.

Suddenly, Nico shook, as if he was electrocuted, and the rope let him loose, making him free fall to the ground 30 feet below. He fell and broke his legs and one of his hands.

'The voice' then said, "You poor, poor demigod. You suffer for the gods when they have done nothing for you. Why are you so stubborn and obstinate?" 'The voice' sighed and then continued, "Anyways, I gave you a bit of energy so that you don't fade. Not right now. When this war is over I will hand you over to the manticore who has some gruesome tortures in his mind, just for you. So don't go through this pain, you just have to agree to my demands and hand over your freewill to me. I will make sure that you get a position of authority when I come to power."

Nico just grunted as he couldn't say anything. He knew that any attempts at refusing would be worthless. So he just lay there, hoping that the next day would never come.

**In the Throne Room**

Hades was thinking about his son, thinking of what he could have done to save his son from being pulled into Tartarus. He knew his son was as good as dead but his feelings as a father didn't allow him to reach that conclusion.

After Hades had stabbed Percy in the forehead with the Sword of Hades and flung him in the river, he returned to his quarters, all his energy and anger spent.

He had also thought of the heroic acts Percy had once committed and how he would now fade from existence, after all no one could survive being thrown into the Styx with the Sword of Hades sucking his life out.

He was just tired and sad and when Persephone showed indifference to Nico's inevitable demise, he snapped at her and told her to get away from his sight.

He then went to Olympus, called an emergency meeting and here he was now, telling them of what had taken place. "…. and then I grabbed him and threw him in the River Styx. I'm sure that no immortal, not even we gods can survive that kind of an ordeal and he will surely have faded from existence."

Zeus got very angry, he stood up, pointed his Master Bolt at Hades and said, "How dare you try to forge a weapon. You are surely preparing to dethrone me once again. Hasn't my rule been fruitful enough, so full of peace? Why do you want to destroy that peace by starting another war?"

Hades just shook in anger and said, "Omnipotence has blinded you brother. Are you completely blind to the plight of Poseidon and me? Have you no shame as to not put blame on somebody when they have just lost their children? Can you not see Poseidon sobbing due to the loss of his son? And I lost my Nico too. If we wanted to dethrone you, we could have done it a long time ago. So don't test my patience brother, unless you really want another war at your hands."

Zeus just shot a glare at Hades and then looked at other Olympians for support. But all were strongly glaring at Zeus and he just huffed, sitting in his throne and mumbling something about a bad family.

Athena then spoke up, "Seeing that my father is currently..." she glanced at Zeus and continued, "unavailable, I would like to recap everything that Hades just told us. So, there is a new being who is trying to rise out of Tartarus using Perseus as his weapon. And as a warning, he dragged Nico, son of Hades, into Tartarus. Hades in retaliation sought out to search for Perseus and after finding him, removed his Curse of Achilles by pouring water from the Rivers Acheron and Phlegethon on him. He then transported him to banks of the River Styx and after stabbing him with the Sword of Hades, threw him into the river, thereby effectively removing him as a threat to Olympus.

Poseidon broke down again, saying that his son was cursed by the fates to never have a peaceful life. Athena then surprised everybody again by consoling Poseidon.

She then said, "Meeting Dismissed" and teleported with Poseidon to Zeus-knows-where. From then the seas have been completely stagnant and many species of marine life suffered.

Hades also returned to the underworld and here he was now, sulking in his room once again. He decided that a walk through his domain might calm him down so he got up and donned his royal clothes.

He then went, first to the Elysian Fields, then the Fields of Punishment (No use going to Asphodel Fields – it's just a big grassland with lots of empty spirits).

As he was walking by the Styx he again remembered the incidents of 2 days ago, his fight with Percy. It was as if Percy had purposely gone near the Styx, to get thrown in it.

He stared at the dark water of the river of hatred, seeing its fast current and deciding that it was all his imagination. As he turned around to go, he heard the sound of the water gurgling.

He turned around to see that the water was boiling and there was a lot of foam gathering in the surface. He went near for a closer look when everything suddenly cleared up. He then stood up straight and called out to the goddess Styx.

The goddess formed out of the water of the river named after her and bowed in front of the god. Hades nodded and asked, "What happened to the body of the young man that fell 2 days ago in your river? And why are there foams on the surface of your river?"

"Do you mean the man whose face was burnt and who had a sword stuck in his forehead?" questioned Styx. Hades just nodded.

Styx said, "He first struggled with the sword, trying to take it out. And then he became motionless and his body fell to the riverbed. It's been lying there since, rotting. Was the young man by any chance Perseus Jackson? And foams have been rising from the wound in his head since he fell in the river."

Hades then replied, "Yes, the young hero was ... altered by a spell of Kronos. He was killing everyone he saw. So I stabbed him in the head with my sword and threw him in the river. Wait….. are you saying that the body is still there?"

Styx shrugged and said, "Yes, it's been lying there ever since. But Perseus had the Curse of Achilles. Hows did you stab him?"

Hades' eyes flared up, and for a moment Styx was scared she had said something wrong. So when Hades said, "I have to report this to the council" and flashed out of there, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Styx turned to go back into her river when a hand suddenly came out of the river and grabbed the mud. Then another hand came out and grabbed the mud. Styx stumbled back in surprise, shock and wonder.

Then a face came out. No, a face wearing a mask came out. Then the whole body slowly came out. And stuck in the forehead of the creature was a sword. There was smoke coming from the sword.

But its dark color and grip gave away its identity. For present in the grip were the Keys of Hades. The keys, which could unlock or lock death. There was only one sword like that. And only one person had the Sword of Hades stuck in his forehead.

Perseus Jackson was alive.

He gripped the sword by one hand pulled it out in one try. His whole body was the same as it had been when he fell but his clothes were now the same color as that of the river's water and his face was covered by a strange looking mask, with lots if holes. Probably, air holes – thought Styx.

She was wondering how somebody could survive a fall in the Styx without dying and having his/her particles scattered all over the river.

Styx stretched her hand and a normal looking celestial bronze sword appeared in her hand. She then took a stance and the 2 had a stare-off, like 2 opponents before a match.

Then Percy started walking towards her and she stood there, getting nervous by the moment. Then she thought – to hell with him, I will kill him now as he doesn't have the Curse of Achilles on him.

She ran towards the teenager and sliced at him. He simply blocked her strike with his sword and kicked the goddess in the stomach. She was again forced back and Percy continued to walk. She then raised her hand and gallons of water from the River Styx rose, and with the flick of her hand, flew toward Perseus.

Percy just stood there as he was doused by the most poisonous water on earth. Smoke again started rising due to the amount of acid in the water. Styx smirked, and waited. She again heard the sound of footsteps and was surprised to see Perseus still walking towards her, unharmed.

He then stopped and raised his hand towards his face. He took of his mask and the sight made Styx recoil in disgust. For Percy's head was shrunken, one of his eyes was bulging out and it was purplish in the region of his mouth and nose.

Percy opened his mouth and Styx almost puked. Percy's teeth were broken except a few, and there was blood all around …. the remaining part of his otherwise missing lips.

In the center of his forehead was a stab wound from the Sword of Hades. In all Percy looked repulsive. And as Styx started running towards him again, Percy put on his mask and got in a stance.

Styx raised her sword and stabbed at Percy's right shoulder but he raised his sword and deflected it. Then he swung at Styx's head and she dodged it by bending forward and head butting Percy in the abdomen.

He stumbled back and Styx started on the offense. She sliced at him with such speed that there was not much that Percy could do but defend. Even then Styx landed many a strikes on him.

And soon there was golden blood all over Percy's clothes, and he started staggering. Styx got a bit cocky and said, "You may have defeated Kronos and may have become immortal but you are going to die by my hands. And I will forever be known as the goddess who managed to defeat Perseus Jackson."

Then she stabbed Percy in the heart. Percy stood straight like a statue. "Finally, I am victorious. It wasn't even that tough, was it? You're pathetic. I don't know how you got the Curse of Achilles and defeated all those monsters but you are worthless." spat Styx. Then she literally spat on Percy's mask.

The spit was like a spark to a fire, because Percy then raised his sword and stabbed Styx in the heart, making her gasp. Now both the combatants were in a stalemate. Both had stabbed each other's hearts.

Styx then said with a sneer, "Give up, son of Poseidon. You have no chance of winning against me. I am a goddess. You are just a demigod-turned immortal."

In response, Percy just twisted his sword. But the advantage was with Percy. Hades' sword had the power to absorb the life force of any immortal or mortal and make its wielder stronger.

Styx was feeling very light headed and her form had begun to flicker. She was feeling very nauseated and she asked, "What is happening to me? What are you doing to me?" She then started coughing blood and her eyes were also leaking blood.

"No, no, you are ... making me ... fade. Screw you Percy Jackson, screw you." shouted Styx.

Percy then gripped Styx's sword that was piercing his heart and put pressure on it, and after a few minutes the sword broke, leaving the tip in stuck in Percy's heart. He took the remaining part and stabbed Styx in the eye.

She screamed and Percy pulled out his own sword and stabbed the goddess in the other eye. Then he pulled the sword out and decapicitated Styx in one slice, making the goddess fade.

There was a onyx colored glow around Percy's body frame for a few moments. Percy then stood up straight and started walking to the one place which had been his original destination:

CAMP HALF-BLOOD

* * *

**So, how was it? Percy was successful in making a goddess fade and I hope the fight scene was good enough. If you think it was bad, then, well, I will try to improve.  
Also, Nico will be playing a major role after a few chapters and you will all be really surprised to the twist which he brings to the story.**

**Anyways, nobody has still managed to guess who the mysterious entity in Tartarus is.  
So, the first 2 readers to do so will get the last chapter of this book and a sneak peek of the first chapter of the second book, as a prize. This competition lasts only till the time when the next chapter is uploaded. So put on your thinking caps, fellow readers.**

**This is Ringmasterisation signing off.  
Goodbye**

**Hello everybody - One of my reviewers asked me to drop a hint about the identity of the "mysterious entity" in Tartarus. Well, I will give you 2:  
1) There is no primordial involved - they are all faded and I intend to keep them that way.  
2) This dude is a former ruler of Earth**

**There it is. Now, that I have given the hints, I expect the readers to start reviewing me the answers. You never know - you might get lucky!**

**Until the next chapter... **


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, as nobody was able to guess the identity of the 'mysterious entity', I am giving one last chance to everybody else, but I am increasing the prize and now you will get the last chapter of this book as well as the whole first chapter of the second book.  
But instead of two, now only one reader will get the prize.  
Also,  
Olympus97 – no, it isn't Kronos' father, because Ouranos is a primordial and the entity is not a primordial. But nice try, why don't you guess on? Keep trying, you still have some time.**

**Hope that somebody guesses it! ****  
Read on!**

**Chapter 7**

**3 days later ….**

* * *

Annabeth had been detained in Olympus for a few days for further questioning after which she was taken to camp in one of the vans along with her mother, Athena, and Artemis, who was transporting the hunters to camp.

Along the way, Athena and Annabeth kept discussing about the blueprints of the temples and palaces of the gods to be made on Olympus when Artemis called out to Annabeth and said, "I didn't want to interrupt but I couldn't help wonder that as the war is now over, if you would like to be a hunter again.

Thalia then butted in and said, "Yes Annabeth, it is fun in the hunt. You would love it there. We kill monsters, camp in forests, have every type of meat that there is. And the company of each other is also quite satisfying."

Artemis then said, "You already know the terms. You would be a wonderful addition to the hunt."

Athena coughed and everybody looked towards her. Then she said, "Excuse me, but my daughter is not going to join the hunt. She is now the architect of Olympus and has duties which she cannot neglect. I'm afraid she has little to no time to spare to the hunt. Now come here daughter, we have to make more designs."

Artemis' eyes narrowed and she said, "Sister, it is Annabeth's decision if she wants to join the hunt or not. You shouldn't come in between."

Athena then said, "And as she is my daughter I know what is best for her. The war has been quite strenuous for her and it would do her good to be in camp with her fellow demigods and lead the rest of her life in peace. After a few weeks of rest she would start designing Olympus – which has always been her dream."

Thalia then said, "How about we let Annabeth decide? But you should know that you will be immortal – and would only be able to die in a battle. And with the skill and experience that you have, you would surely never die."

Annabeth was silent for some time after which she spoke, "I'm sorry, Artemis, Thalia, but I am already being offered immortality by Zeus and mom because designing the whole of Olympus would take years much more than my life contains. It has always been my dream to design something which would last forever. I cannot join the hunt."

Artemis sighed and said, "It is your decision dear. But if you ever change your mind, you should know that you will always be welcome."

The face of Zeus suddenly appeared in between Athena and Artemis and he said, "Daughters, come to Olympus immediately. We have another emergency meeting. Perseus has survived the fall in the River Styx and well … come quickly. We have much to discuss."

Athena nodded and said, "We will be there instantly father. And I was wondering if I could bring my daughter – you could complete her ritual and then work would begin right away."

Zeus nodded and said, "OK." Then he slashed through the mist, thereby cutting the connection.

Athena grabbed Annabeth's shoulder and then she and Artemis flashed in their godly forms and disappeared.

Meanwhile Thalia wondered aloud, "Percy escaped from a fall in the River Styx – but didn't he already have the Curse of Achilles? Why would he jump in again? I will ask my lady when she gets back."

There was a sudden _thud_ and the van suddenly stopped and Thalia fell forward and cursed quite a lot. Phoebe shouted at Argus, the driver, "What the hell happened? Why did you stop the van?"

Argus looked back slowly and scared the hell out of Phoebe with his numerous eyes. He then pointed to the front of the car and then looked forward. Thalia got the message and opened the back and all the hunters drew out with their bows drawn.

They all went in front of the van to find a boy fallen face down with a sword lying nearby. Not looking at the sword, Thalia knelt near the boy, assuming him to be a demigod, and asked, "Are you okay? Are you feeling alright? Are you in a condition to speak?"

The boy's hand moved a bit and he started getting up. He had jet black hair and was wearing a coat. He got up only to stumble forward. He then bent down to grab his sword.

Only then did Thalia get a good look at the sword. It seemed as if she had seen the sword before and it was on the tip of her tongue. She then looked at the grip and saw keys in it.

It then hit her like a lightning bolt (no pun intended) – it was the Sword of Hades – but what was it doing with this boy?

She then asked him, "How did you come in possession of this sword?"

The boy didn't answer but kept standing motionlessly. Something about him made Thalia feel very uncomfortable, as if she was to be wary of him.

She then reached out to grab the shoulder. In that instant, he grabbed her hand, threw her above his shoulder and slammed her into the ground. Hard. She started groaning and clutching her head.

All the hunters then started shooting at him and the arrows stuck in his back, legs, hands, and head. He turned around and the hunters recognized him by his eyes. He was Perseus, the murderer.

He ran towards one of the hunters and kicked her in the stomach. Then he backhanded another in the face. She fell into 2 others. Phoebe dropped her bow, took out her hunting knifes and ran towards the former Hero of Olympus.

Percy saw her coming and stabbed another hunter in the stomach before turning to face her. She kept running and just as she reached him he slashed at her. She ducked and was able to nick Percy in the arm.

Percy ignored that and instead punched Phoebe on the jaw. She went sprawling back. But she got in a stance and waited. Another hunter tried to hit Percy from behind but Percy ducked and pushed her from behind and she ran into Phoebe.

He then sliced at another hunter's hand and kicked her in the side of the head. She crumpled then and there. He then turned around to see Phoebe and the second hunter ready, Phoebe with her knives and the other one with her bow.

Thalia was just getting up and at first she saw everything hazy and blurred. After rubbing her eyes a few times she saw that there was silver and golden blood splattered everywhere. She quickly got up and looked around to see Percy and Phoebe and another hunter in a melee fight.

The occasional hunter interfered but was literally thrown back by Percy's strength and the 2 hunters were also starting to tire out. But Percy seemed to have infinite strength as he fought of the age old hunt with little to no problem.

Thalia then got up and raised her hands in the air. She then mumbled, "Sorry Percy" and shouted, "Go to hell, asshole" and a _huge _lightning bolt stuck Percy. For a few seconds nobody could see anything because of the light.

When it all cleared Percy was on his knees and appeared dazed. With lightning speed Thalia shot an arrow at Percy which turned to celestial bronze rope at the last moment to bind Percy. Thalia then fell down because of the exhaustion caused due to the excessive power use.

Percy tugged and tugged, but even his superhuman strength was not enough to break the rope. Phoebe then got up and kicked Percy in the side. Percy was already bleeding a lot but it was as if he didn't even feel any pain. Phoebe then said to the other hunters, "Our guest must be taken care of properly. So shouldn't we take out these arrows out of his body?"

Hearing that, all the other hunters got a maniacal grin and gathered around Percy except one, who went to check on Thalia. They all started pushing the arrows inside Percy's body and taking it out the other side. Percy kept standing and the hunters kept doing it till all the arrows had come out.

By then Thalia was completely fine; but when she saw the whole scenario, she just sighed in sadness and said to herself, "Percy, why are you doing this? Why are you killing everybody you see? Why?"

But then she wondered – how could Percy bleed when he had the Curse of Achilles? And taking out the curse was impossible, or so she thought. This was one of the many things she would ask Artemis, but for now she had to decide what to do with their captive.

She went near Percy and shouted, "Hunters, today another one of our sister has fallen. But we have finally caught the one who is responsible for all this. We shall go on and take him to Camp Half Blood. There we shall give our hunter the last rites and also decide what to do with our captive."

Phoebe nodded and then came up to Percy and punched him in the face. She then screamed loudly and shouted, "I broke my hand, I broke my hand. Ouch, ouch, ouch."

Thalia again wondered - how did it break? If Percy doesn't have the Curse of Achilles anymore, then how did Phoebe's hand break? I think Percy's face must be too strong or Phoebe's hand must have been hurt from earlier.

She said to all the hunters, "Come on, hunters. Let's go on to the camp. There we will have some rest and I will Iris Message Artemis as soon as we reach there."

All the hunters and Argus loaded Percy in the van and then sat in themselves. Then they all drove to the camp without any further incidents.

**In the Council Meeting**

When Athena, Artemis and Annabeth flashed into the throne room, the council had already started. Hades and Zeus were shouting at each other and the word Styx and Perseus was used a lot of time. Poseidon was seething on his throne and when it got over his head he banged his trident on the ground and shouted, "If you two don't want the world to drown and the end of all civilization to come then you two better sit on your thrones and shut the hell up.

He then noticed the trio of goddesses and demigod standing and said, "Ah, here you are, come on sit down, Hades had called an emergency meeting 3 days ago but _Zeus, our king_ decided to hold one now."

Athena and Artemis sat on their respective thrones and Annabeth went and sat near Hestia. After everybody was settled down Poseidon continued, "So Hades, what was so important that you had to call another emergency meeting?"

Hades muttered some curses at Zeus after which he said, "After the last council meeting was over, I had gone to the underworld and was taking a walk through my domain. When I was near the River Styx I saw a lot of foams being formed at the surface of the river. I went near and after a while the foams went away. So I summoned the goddess Styx and asked her about the body of young Jackson. She said that the body was still intact and was lying at the river bed. And the place where the Sword of Hades had stabbed him, lots of foams were rising from that wound. So I decided to call an emergency meeting then and there. After Zeus refused to my demand, I went to the bank once again and sensed death in the vicinity. I searched around but could not pinpoint where it exactly was coming from but I could tell that an immortal had died. So I called Thanatos and asked him if he had seen any death on the banks of the River Styx. He told me that a death had taken place and it was …" At this point stopped and sighed.

He muttered something inaudible and then continued, "The goddess Styx had faded." Gasps of goddesses were heard all around the room. "Somebody had defeated her in a fight and made her fade. Sensing the fading of its goddess, the river also started moving faster and faster. Then it completely slowed down and has been stagnant ever since. I immediately IM'ed Poseidon and gave him my permission to come in my domain. After he came, I asked him to check if there was a body in the river. As its goddess was gone, the river in nobody's domain and so it was free to be used, unlike earlier, by other gods or goddesses. Poseidon checked and told me that there was no body."

By the end everybody had understood what would have happened and so there was complete silence. Then Ares spoke up, "Well, the punk killed a goddess. So this means he is declaring war on Olympus. We should search him out and crush him, maybe send him to Tartarus."

Athena then said, "Ares, think before you speak. Perseus' master is in Tartarus itself. So if we send Percy there, won't he just come back out as easily as we sent him and come out with much more power than he already has?"

"So it is decided then. Percy is now officially an enemy of Olympus and if seen, shall be killed on sight. Artemis and her hunters will search for him in the forests, the demigods will be sent on quests and all other creatures will be warned about his presence. All Olympians will be given a conch – which you have to sound as soon as you set your sights on him." Ordered Zeus.

Poseidon then shouted, "Noooooo, he is being possessed by somebody else. We can't kill him because of somebody else. We all know that he would never do that in his own free will. Please don't kill him, I beg you brother. Please."

Zeus looked at Poseidon sadly, for he knew that if the life of Thalia was at stake he would be in the same position. But Zeus was the king of Olympus; he had to think for everybody, not just Poseidon. Even then he said, "OK, don't kill him on sight, try to capture him and bring him to Olympus. If he presents a threat then blow the conch and we will decide what to do."

There was silence after which he said, "If there is nothing else to be added…"

"In fact father, I was wondering if you could bestow immortality on my daughter, now that she is the architect of Olympus."

"Oh yes, immortality. OK then, daughter of Athena, please step forward." Annabeth was very nervous but she stood up and went in the middle of the thrones.

Then Zeus said in that booming voice of his, "Daughter of Athena, you are the architect of Olympus. As the king of Olympus, I now grant you immortality." Then he raised his hand and an electric blue orb of light came out of his arm and entered Annabeth's chest.

She then fell down.

There was more silence after which Zeus said, "Meeting Dismissed" and disappeared in a big boom of sound and a huge lightning bolt along with his wife, Hera.

Athena shrunk down to human size, picked up Annabeth and flashed out along with the other gods except Poseidon, who was sitting on his throne, crying, and Hermes, who was looking at the god of the seas with sympathy and pity.

He then walked up to him and said, "Poseidon, I know how you feel. I felt the same way when they wanted to kill my son for betraying Olympus. Percy is the strongest demigod I have ever known – both physically and mentally. If there is one person who can overcome any odds then it is him. Don't worry, uncle. Everything will be alright; it always is, in the end."

And then Hermes flashed out. Poseidon then thought – I have to be strong and start searching for him. It won't help if I just sulk all day. If the others capture him then it will not bode well for him.

And then Poseidon too flashed out. And only Hestia was left who just mumbled, "Oh Percy, my special, special boy. What has happened to you? You don't deserve any of this. Why are the fates doing this to you?"

Then she continued to take care of the hearth, deeply buried in her thoughts.

**In the Depths of Tartarus **

"Now do you give up, petty demigod?" asked 'the voice'.

"If I was so petty, then why are you so desperate to convert me to your cause?" said Nico. 'The voice' had fixed Nico's vocal cords and voice box because it liked to hear his screams when he was in pain.

However, Nico's witty retort only seemed to make 'the voice' angry because he shouted at Dr Thorn, "Put his head in the water again. Make him so desperate for a breath of air that he will give up his freedom for it."

The manticore grinned and pushed Nico's head in the water again. Nico struggled but his tortured body didn't have the power to fend off the monster.

For the past 3 days, Nico had been subjected to different kinds of tortures. On the second day of his torture he had been whipped again and then was immediately dropped in a big pot of salt and pins and the lid was closed. There were enough holes for him to breath and the screams could be heard till 2 hours after which even the manticore had pity for him.

The next day, Dr Thorn bought some water from the River Phlegethon and forced it into Nico's throat which burned all insides of Nico except the heart, the brain and the lungs. Then 'the voice' had ordered Dr Thorn to stand back as they waited for Nico to puke out the water, but Nico didn't have the stomach to do so.

Then yesterday only, 'the voice' drove Nico to the brinks of madness as it showed him visions which are too horrible to describe.

Unknown to Nico, 'the voice' wasn't torturing Nico to make him fight against the gods. 'The voice' was slowly destroying the very essence of his being, his identity and was making Nico a mindless warrior – like Perseus.

But, to control Perseus, 'the voice' had to use its essence because any amount of torturing would not have yielded any results – all thanks to Percy's fatal flaw; and also because 'it' needed some of its essence out of Tartarus.

Nico on the other hand already had some mental issues against the gods and bringing them out was quite fun for 'the voice'; mainly because of the methods that were being used.

In all 'the voice' was laying out a very intricate web of plans and deception and it only had to wait for the butterflies to get stuck in the web before the it closed down.

"Nico, it has been 4 days since I have been torturing you. Why are you resisting? I wouldn't have to do any of this if you just agreed to my demands. Please, for your sake, say yes. Don't give the manticore the pleasure of torturing you again and again." said the voice in a surprisingly worried voice.

Nico was now starting to black out in the water, but it had still heard 'the voice'. He was now desperate enough but a voice in his head was telling him to black out and not respond.

'The voice' got angry because of the lack of response and so projected one last vision in Nico's mind : of Zeus ordering Bianca to be transported to Fields of Punishment and Bianca being raped everyday to make her suffer due to her hunter's vow.

This drove Nico over the edge and he shouted yes in such a way that the pot broke and Nico fell down.

'The voice' was surprised and asked the manticore, "What did he say? What did he say just now?"

The manticore just shrugged and picked up Nico by the throat. Then he started punching him all over the body, and with every punch Nico coughed up a bit of blood.

Then 'the voice' told the manticore to stop and asked Nico, "What did you say just now?"

Nico just grunted a yes and started puking blood over the manticore's face. This angered the monster as he just threw Nico in the air and then kicked him on the face, making Nico fly to the other end of the chamber and knocking him unconscious.

'The voice' started laughing and said, "Finally! Phase 1 is complete. Now that Nico is mine, the downfall of the gods is completely ensured. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I will finally rule Olympus again, and nobody will stop me.

* * *

**Well, that is it for now.  
So Percy has been captured by the hunt** **but he managed to kill another hunter.  
Phoebe punched Percy but broke her hand.  
The council put out a 'capture or kill' order for Percy and Zeus also made Annabeth immortal.**

**And Nico finally said yes and gave in to the tortures of 'the voice'. Now we will see what 'the voice' has in mind. **

**Also, the identity of 'the voice' is still a mystery. And so the prize is still out there. **

**Keep thinking guys and gals. Let's see who finally cracks the mystery.  
Goodbye.**


	8. Chapter 8

******Yo fellow readers, I'm back. And sharing the stage with me is my very new beta-reader _Shewhoisawesome. _She edited this chapter and from now this story will be a joint effort. And let me tell you; the way she edits is actually good. She chucks out every letter in the story which is bad and is ready with another suggestion.**

**Also, everybody please applaud **DeathmatchDrunkard **for gu****essing the identity of 'the voice'. He PM'ed me with so many suggestions and none of them were right. But he kept guessing and then he went on Google to search the answer and then found it.  
Kudos to him.**

**Anyways, here is the next chapter.  
Read on!**

**Chapter 8**

After reaching Camp Half-Blood Argus and Phoebe immediately took out Percy from the van and carried him to the big house along with another hunter who carried the Sword of Hades. Thalia told the rest of the hunt to go to the Artemis cabin while she herself went to the beach to Iris Message Artemis about the current events.

When Chiron saw Argus and Phoebe come in with a masked man, and another hunter bring in a sword as black as Hades, he was surprised and shocked. He immediately kept down the book he was reading and went to the trio to help them set Percy on a sofa.

He then asked Phoebe, "Who is he? And is the sword the boy's?"

Phoebe replied, "Chiron, he is Perseus Jackson, the murderer of countless beings – immortal, mortal and semi-mortal. And yes, the sword is his."

Chiron's eyes widened in surprise and he asked, "How did you manage to capture him? Did any of you get hurt? And where is Lady Artemis?"

Phoebe recounted the whole incident and then spat, "This _boy _managed to kill many of our hunters and injure yet many more. But after quite a battle we managed to capture him with this celestial bronze rope. Lady Artemis had gone for a council meeting to Olympus.

Chiron nodded, and then said, "We can't let the campers know about him. Take the body and dump it in the attic, nobody ever goes there these days. I will Iris Message the go..."

Phoebe interrupted Chiron's train of thought, "No need to do that Chiron, Thalia has already gone to Iris Message Lady Artemis. She will be back in a few minutes."

At that moment Thalia came in the big house, "I Iris Messaged Lady Artemis. She is coming here along with dad, Lord Hades and Poseidon. They will be here any instant."

Just as she spoke that there were 4 flashes of light and Lord Zeus, Lord Poseidon, Lord Hades and Lady Artemis appeared beside them.

Chiron and Argus immediately bowed to them and Chiron said, "Lady Artemis, Lord Zeus, Lord Poseidon, Lord Hades."

All the said gods and goddess nodded and Zeus said to Chiron, "Chiron, call the cabin counselors for a meeting. We have got another war on our hands."

Chiron's face was ash-stricken. He was completely white and didn't move until Poseidon banged his trident on the floor, leaving a small crater behind. Chiron snapped out of his trance and at once trotted out of the building, calling out to Thalia, "Thalia, you go to the cabins of the goddesses; I will call the male ones."

Thalia nodded and ran out. In a matter of minutes all counselors were assembled around the ping-pong table and at the head sat Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and Artemis on their ready-made thrones. Zeus then stood to address the table, "Children, I come with grave news. You all know about Perseus Jackson and how he was ….. sent into coma by Kronos?"

All the demigods nodded in assent. Zeus continued, "You also know that Perseus was declared missing on the day of the victory celebration?"

All the demigods nodded again. He then said, "Well, he was found." Katie then looked straight in the eyes of Zeus and he understood that she already knew.

Gasps of surprise, shock and anger rose in the room. Clarisse banged her fist on the ping-pong table and shouted, "Why weren't we told about Prissy's whereabouts earlier?" Then she looked at Chiron and asked, "Chiron, did you know about this? Why didn't you tell us?"

Chiron, unable to answer, just looked away and Hades spoke up instead, "Daughter of Ares, the condition in which we found Percy was not suitable for you all to handle at the moment."

Travis then shouted, "We fought a war. We saw our own brothers and sisters being butchered by monsters. I think we are pretty strong enough to handle any kind of news by now."

Artemis shouted at everybody to be silent before Hades recounted all events of the past few days, but skipping the events of that very day. Nobody said a word or uttered a sound as they all heard what Percy had done and what had been done to him, how Nico was dragged into Tartarus and how Styx was forced to fade.

"Where is Princess now?" asked Clarisse, after everything was said and done.

"Princess?" asked Zeus, puzzled.

"I mean, where is Annabeth?" repeated Clarisse.

"The last we saw of her was when she fainted after being granted immortality and Athena flashed off with her to somewhere." said Poseidon, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time.

"And what about Percy, where is he now?" asked Jake Mason.

"Well about that ….. " Chiron signaled Argus and they both went towards the stairs and up.

After a few minutes, they came down with a body on Chiron's back. The body in question was wearing a mask on the face, a hunting coat which reached to the waist, a sweater beneath the coat and a shirt beneath the sweater as well as jeans and worn boots. All gods stood up and stared at the body in anger and surprise, except Poseidon who was very sad and miserable.

The demigods stumbled back in disgust and one or two of them even puked at the amount of ichor which was stained on Percy's shirt and which was still dripping out. They all were silent until Katie asked, "Is this Percy?"

Artemis nodded stiffly and said, "He is the male who killed many hunters and women alike. He even killed his own mother, the little …. "

"ARTEMIS, MY SON DID NOT DO ANY SUCH THING. HE WAS AND IS POSSESSED. YOU BETTER REMEMBER THAT BEFORE YOU STARTED POINTING FINGERS." shouted Poseidon.

"POSEIDON! Calm down and sit. It's of no use to shout at others. What's done is done. We have to concentrate on the present scenario." said Hades.

"OK, now that that matter is resolved, we have to do something about our young Perseus. Does anybody have any suggestions?" asked Zeus.

Nobody said anything. All the counselors were still shocked at seeing Percy's condition. They all truly loved Percy, even Clarisse, so they didn't want any harm to come to him. Suddenly, Hades looked at the couch and saw his sword.

He cried out and said, "My sword – there it is." He then jogged to the couch and started admiring his sword. Zeus coughed, "Perhaps you would like to enlighten the demigods about this new weapon of yours?"

Hades thought for a few moments then shrugged and said, "Thalia knows this tale better than me; after all she, Perseus and Nico went to the underworld to find the sword for me."

"WHAT! Why wasn't I told that my own daughter was used in a heinous scheme to help Hades' plot to take over my throne?" screeched Zeus.

Thalia came to Hades' rescue, "Relax Dad." Then she went on to tell everybody how the trio of Percy, Nico and herself found the Sword of Hades and ended by saying, "Uncle had no part in the making of this sword. It was actually Persephone who made this sword, without the permission of Hades. She wanted equal status for her husband which I say wasn't wrong on her part. After all, uncle has a;ways been considered inferior among the Big 3. In addition, Percy managed to 'defeat' Iapetus."

Zeus was surprised to say the least as Poseidon commented, "Leave it be brother, if you can have a powerful master bolt and me a trident, then Hades has full right to have a powerful weapon of his own. I approve."

"Of course you would, after all even you must be in line to take over my throne. I tell you, this sword can bring the end of Olympus, if in the wrong hands. It can easily make an immortal fade. Even if we set aside the fact that Hades won't use it for the wrong methods, we can all note how Perseus caused so much destruction with it. He managed to make Styx fade; which would have otherwise been impossible, for him."

Everybody was forced to think as Zeus actually made a good point. Hades himself thought that it was very unfair, so he said, "Well, if that's the case, then Zeus' Bolt should also be disposed off. Everybody must remember how much dispute it caused when it was stolen, even though it wasn't his own fault."

Everybody agreed and Zeus seethed that Hades had managed to save his sword, for now. Artemis scowled, "We should give eternal punishment to Perseus, he killed so many of my hunters. He doesn't deserve to live."

There were cries of protest all around the room as Katie shouted, "He saved all of Olympus mostly by himself. And you want to condemn your own savior?" Artemis was about to retort when Percy got up from the table and stood up. He then head butted Travis in the head and it burst open. Everybody stepped back in surprise and fear but the gods.

Artemis ran towards Percy and they both crashed into the wall, thereby breaking it. Percy rolled up tried to stand up but couldn't. So he started rolling away with the gods and Chiron giving him chase. Zeus fired his Master Bolt at Percy which resulted in a big explosion after which Artemis stabbed the back of his head with her knife. Percy lay still and didn't get up again.

Chiron carried him back to the big house and mumbled, "He is dangerous even when he is bound by ropes. I wonder what he can do when he's free. We need to do something and do something quick." He then said loudly, "Connor, take your brother to the infirmary and get him stitched up by the Apollo kids."

"He will be unconscious for a while. You put him back wherever you put him and a day later one of the minor gods will come with extra protection to take him to Olympus. I used a lot of my power in that strike, but it barely seemed to harm him." Zeus glowered.

Hades scoffed, "When the River Styx can't erode him and my sword can't absorb his life force, you think a lightning bolt will do any harm. HA!"

Zeus decided to stay quiet this time. "Chiron, get a better place to hold such meetings." said Poseidon, before flashing out of there along the other gods.

Chiron carried Percy back to the attic and the other demigods also dispersed. But they all had one question on their minds, "what now?"

**In the Atlantean Library**

Poseidon appeared in Atlantis and was going to his bedroom when he saw Athena sitting on a couch, reading a book. "I didn't expect you to be here. Reading another book?"

Athena raised her head and smiled, "Well, you did give me 24x7 access to your library, didn't you? So why not take advantage of it? And the books here are fantastic, as I have told you before"

Poseidon nodded, then asked, "Where's your daughter? Is she handling immortality well?"

"Well, she is currently in my palace on Olympus, resting. Once she's given the final okay by Apollo, she will be taken to Camp Half-Blood where she will have a vacation of sorts. After that, the designing and reconstruction of Olympus will begin." Athena explained.

"Looks like you have it all planned out. Anyways, did you find out any information about the identity of the entity in Tartarus? After all, you come here whenever you have free time." stated Poseidon.

"Well, I have reached to a few conclusions." said Athena. "That was the main reason I was here: waiting for you. Walk with me." Athena then got up and walked with Poseidon towards the library.

"As we both know, the titans weren't the first beings. Not even Gaea. It was completely different. I did have some trouble since I didn't know where to start, but now at least I can show something." explained Athena.

They had both reached the library by now and Athena led Poseidon to a shelf labeled 'Miscellaneous'. She picked out a book which was unnamed and opened a page. Then she handed the book to Poseidon, her finger on a certain paragraph and said, "Read".

_"At the beginning there was only Khaos (Air), Nyx (Night), dark Erebos (Darkness), and deep Tartaros (Hell's Pit). Ge (Earth), Aer (Air) and Ouranos (Heaven) had no existence. Firstly, black-winged Nyx (Night) laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebos (Darkness), and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros (Desire) with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated [or fertilised] in deep Tartaros (Hell-Pit) with dark Khaos (Air), winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race [the birds], which was the first to see the light."_

"Now read this" said Athena, turning the page and pointing to another paragraph.

_"Ere land and sea and the all-covering sky were made, in the whole world the countenance of nature was the same, all one, well named Chaos, a raw and undivided mass, naught but a lifeless bulk, with warring seeds of ill-joined elements compressed together. No Titan [Helios the Sun] as yet poured light upon the world, no waxing Phoebe [Selene the Moon] her crescent filled anew, nor in the ambient air yet hung the earth, self-balanced, equipoised, nor Amphitrite's [the Sea's] arms embraced the long far margin of the land. Though there were land and sea and air, the land no foot could tread, no creature swim the sea, the air was lightless; nothing kept its form, all objects were at odds, since in one mass cold essence fought with hot, and moist with dry, and hard with soft and light with things of weight. This strife a Deus (God) [Phanes or Thesis?], with nature's blessing, solved; who severed land from sky and sea from land, and from the denser vapours set apart the ethereal sky; and, each from the blind heap resolved and freed, he fastened in its place appropriate in peace and harmony. The fiery weightless force of heaven's vault flashed up and claimed the topmost citadel; next came the air in lightness and in place; the thicker earth with grosser elements sank burdened by its weight; lowest and last the girdling waters pent the solid globe. So into shape whatever god it was reduced the primal matter and prescribed its several parts. Then first, to make the earth even on every side, he rounded it into a mighty disc, then bade the sea extend and rise under the rushing winds, and gird the shores of the encircled earth."_

"These are 2 theories concerning the formation of the world and of a being having much more power than anybody or anything. But this, Khaos or Chaos, faded after creating the world. It also would have no reason to attack Olympus." explained Athena. Poseidon just nodded.

"Chaos also created the Protogenai or the Primordial Beings like Gaea, Tartarus, Nyx etc. And the union between Ouranos and Gaea was the beginning of the titans. But we both know that. What we didn't know was that most of the Primordial Beings faded, giving the reins of the world to the titans.

Poseidon was quite and had a thoughtful look on his face, after which he asked, "Why exactly did the Primordial Beings fade?"

"Well, I'm not so sure but my guess is that because they felt they were not needed anymore, also they were too powerful to fully exist in their true forms and so had to fade. One Primordial Being can defeat the whole Olympian Council in minutes, without breaking a sweat." explained Athena.

"Then it's a good thing that Gaea is a very sleepy goddess." said Poseidon.

Athena laughed and then said, "The titans Kronos, Hyperion, Krios, Oceanus, Iapetus, Prometheus, and Atlas were defeated in this war. So the only options are Perses or Pallas. But Perses was locked up so deep in the depths of Tartarus and with so less power in the first titan war that not even Tartarus could bring him back. As for Pallas, well he is the husband of Styx who is a part of Hades, so even he is not an option."

"Well, I can offer you only one piece of advice: there is a whole library out there and this is just the one book. Keep searching." Poseidon then laughed and went away to his bedroom, leaving Athena in a frustrated mood.

"I think the entity is one of titans only, after all, only a few took part in the First Titan War and even fewer in the second. It is so confusing. Damn!" Athena thought to herself.

**In Tartarus**

"The son of Hades is now ready. He has no memory and no identity of his own. He just follows my orders and will do anything I say. As my champion, Perseus, has been captured, it is time to bring the knight into play." This was the train of thought of 'THE VOICE'.

Nico's sword had been broken by the fall in Tartarus; so he was given a new one made from the essence of Tartarus itself. But 'THE VOICE' also taught Nico to control shadows and use them as armor and to form weapons. 'THE VOICE' had also given Nico better control of shadows and ghosts. Now Nico could bend shadows to lift himself in the air. He could order ghosts to come out and absorb them to inherit their powers.

For instance, if he called out Achilles and absorbed him, then Nico would become a much better swordsman and have better skills with spears too. The experience would also come in handy. If Nico called out Theseus, then Nico would get intense knowledge which would rival that of Athena's. Bu the drawback was that the ghosts could only be absorbed for a short period of time, after which they would leave, and Nico would get very tired.

Also, Nico was still tortured everyday just for the amusement of 'THE VOICE' and also to keep him in control. Just a few hours ago, the manticore had stuck his finger in Nico's eyes and took them both out. Then he bought 2 snakes and let them in Nico's body through the eye holes.

After Nico screamed for a few hours, as the snakes ate his insides, Dr Thorn just pushed the eyeballs back in their sockets and Nico had to literally puke the snakes back out. The 'THE VOICE healed Nico and the torture was over.

Right now, Nico was sparring with the manticore with a sword made of shadows. He ran at Dr Thorn and formed 2 spears made of shadows and threw them straight at him. But the manticore just caught them and they dissolved back into shadows.

Then Nico used the shadows to raise himself in the air launch straight at the monster. He struck at Dr Thorn's head however the monster just caught the sword and threw it over his shoulder.

But Nico had already left the grip of the sword and formed a new one in his other hand. By the time the manticore looked back, Nico just touched the pointed end at the mouth - which was the vulnerable point. The manticore knew he had lost, after all Nico was standing on a big platform, formed by shadows with his sword, threatening to kill him with one strike.

The manticore blinked and punched Nico in the face before dissolving into black dust. In Tartarus monsters could travel anywhere they wanted and they used a method similar to that of the god's teleportation.

After the manticore was beaten, 'THE VOICE' said, "Bravo my demigod, bravo. I don't think anybody has defeated a manticore so quickly and easily ever. 7 seconds. Very good. But listen closely now because I have a mission for you. This is a very dangerous mission as you would lose your immortality the minute you left Tartarus."

Nico just knelt and said, "I would do your bidding no matter what, Master. Just say the word and I will be off."

"And that is what I expect of you. Then listen carefully, you have to go to Camp Half Blood and free my champion, Perseus. He has been captured and he is of vital importance to my plans. Free him and then join him on his mission."

Nico bowed deeply and said, "As you wish master. When do I go?"

'THE VOICE' just laughed and said, "Now my child, now." And then Nico transformed into a black swirl of dust (think of the death-eaters in Harry Potter flying in their forms of black dust) and flew up till he reached the surface, exactly from where he had been dragged into Tartarus. The black swirl again changed into Nico, who was left standing with his head bowed down.

When he looked up, he had a maniacal grin on his face and his eyes were fully black.

**And that my fellow readers, is the 8****th**** chapter. I have to say, this one was quite boring to write as there was not much action.**

**Anyways have patience, because the twist is coming very soon. There is a lot of action coming and it involves both Nico and Percy.  
**

**So until the next chapter.  
Read on!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I would say that this is a filler chapter and is terribly boring. If you want to, then skip the whole portion and read the last part about Nico. If you get bored reading this and want to scream at me for such a chapter, you are free to do so.  
This is the 9****th**** chapter.  
Enjoy.**

**Chapter 9**

**A few hours after the departure of gods from Camp Half Blood…**

* * *

Annabeth was in a van once again, this time alone, as Argus drew towards Camp Half Blood. She longed to see her friends, her siblings, but her mind was conquered by only one thought, "Oh Percy, I miss you so much, please come back."

Even though her mind knew that it was completely impossible for everything to be normal again, her heart was not listening at all. And she was now immortal, living forever. She would design Olympus for the next few decades and always live with the pain of losing Percy.

(Flashback)

After Athena had flashed them both from the meeting and taken Annabeth to her palace, she had been unconscious for 11-12 hours. Then, when she woke up she found Apollo sitting on a chair near her, reading a magazine.

He had greeted her in a cheerful voice, "Good Morning, sleeping beauty. You have been out for quite some time. Of course, it was expected, now that you are immortal. Congratulations are in order I guess? Anyways, you are completely fine now. Your mother told me to put you in one of the vans which will take you to camp. Come on."

Apollo had then led her to one of the vans and told Argus to drive safely. Argus just nodded and they were on their way. This time though Annabeth reached camp without any incident.

(Flashback ends)

When she reached the border, she noticed a demigod about 12-13 years old look at her and then run back into camp. She was very surprised as she expected a warm welcome, not a cold shoulder.

But she ignored it and started going to the big house. On the way she was met by many stares and she started to feel uncomfortable. Someone suddenly bumped into her shoulder and said, "So, princess you have finally come. Hope you're enjoying immortality."

She turned and saw Clarisse standing and having an amused expression on her face. So she asked, "You seem very happy today? Is there anything special that I'm missing? Everybody is staring at me like I'm a freak or something."

"You can say that. Come on; let me escort you to the big house. I don't want to miss the show for anything." mused Clarisse.

Annabeth was surprised – Clarisse offering to _escort _her to the big house? Something was seriously wrong.

But Annabeth wasn't complaining, yet. They both walked to the big house together and met Thalia in the way. Thalia hugged Annabeth and said, "Hey Annie, my sweet little sister, how have you been? How are you feeling now that you're a full immortal?"

"Well, you know how it feels. You feel much more powerful and like eternity is just out there for me to grab. All my dreams can now finally be fulfilled with no restraint." said Annabeth, smiling in the end.

"So where are you going?" asked Thalia.

Clarisse answered first, "I'm personally escorting Princess here to the big house. Why don't you tag along?"

Thalia glared at Clarisse while the said person just smirked. Then Thalia sighed, dropping her shoulders and said, "She has to know someday, and the sooner the better. I'll come too. She might need a supportive shoulder, not just an audience."

Annabeth was getting irritated that the 2 demigods were talking about her as if she wasn't there. Then she said, "Hello, I'm still here. Mind telling me what's going on? Or am I still invisible to you?"

Thalia just said, "Come on, let's go." Then they all reached the big house and met Chiron inside. Chiron and Annabeth hugged and then Chiron asked, "So how are you feeling now?"

Annabeth replied, "Great, abso….."

"Oh stop this conservation now. I'm getting sick of hearing the same thing again and again. Just show her Chiron, show her what we got yesterday." interrupted Clarisse. Then turning to Annabeth, she said, "The hunters gave our camp a gift."

"Gift? Since when did the hunters start giving gifts to anybody? Thals, why didn't you tell me about it?" asked a confused Annabeth.

Thalia looked away and murmured, "You will see. Just show it to her Chiron. Get it over with."

Chiron protested, "Child, it may not be fit for you to see this just right now. You should go to your cain and have some rest, maybe some food before you see this."

Annabeth refused adamantly, "No Chiron, I want to see this 'gift' right now and nothing will make me change my decision.

Chiron sighed and motioned Annabeth to follow him. Annabeth went beside him with Clarisse and Thalia following suit. They all went upstairs and Chiron entered the attic first with Annabeth almost jumping to see what it was.

They all reached at the other end of the room, where the previous oracle used to be placed, to see another body placed with a celestial bronze rope tightly wound around it. Annabeth was disappointed and said, "The hunters gifted us a corpse?"

Clarisse started laughing and then said, "Oh, please let me tell her, let me tell her." Chiron silenced her with a glare and then said, in the kindest voice he could muster, "Annabeth, dear, this … this is the body of Perseus Jackson."

Annabeth was quite. Nobody spoke and then Clarisse burst out, laughing at Annabeth's expression and was soon rolling on the floor. Annabeth couldn't form proper words and she was stuck at, "Th …Th…. Th…"

Thalia then told her everything about how Percy was hit by the van, how he slammed Thalia on the ground and killed a hunter, how he fought the whole hunt with ease and how he was captured with sheer power, teamwork and cunning.

Annabeth was still speechless when she fell on the ground, crying and saying, "Percy, Percy, oh my Percy. Why can't you ever get the break you deserve?" Annabeth was curled up on the floor and only looked at Percy's body once to start sobbing again.

Then she got up and clutched Percy's coat collar and said, "I will not leave you. You maybe Olympus' enemy but I will stay with you. After all, I have all of eternity to do so."

Chiron gently but firmly removed Annabeth from Percy and said, "Dear, he might wake up and cause more destruction then he already has. Earlier today, Percy was completely bound but managed to bust open Travis' head with one hit. He has become very powerful and you need to know that there is no hope for _our _Percy to come back. I'm sorry."

Then he said to Thalia, "Take her to her cabin, she might feel comfortable among her own siblings. Clarisse, from now you are the new sword master of the camp. Now that Annabeth will be designing Olympus, she won't be able to take part in camp affairs and will most likely live on Olympus, and as Percy is ….. no more, you are also the new head counselor of Camp Half Blood. Congratulations."

Clarisse was shocked, but was able to mutter a thank you before shouting and running out of the attic, while Thalia carried Annabeth out. Chiron sighed and mumbled, "Percy, why does this always happen to you?"

Suddenly, Percy's eyes opened and he sat up straight. Percy tugged at the rope but the effort took him out, again. Chiron then hurried out of the attic and said, "Must tell Zeus, Percy is already beginning to stir. Must warn the gods."

Just as Chiron went out the shadows begin to swirl and gather in another corner of the room as Nico stepped out. He had been in the room for quite some time and had heard the whole conversation.

When the attic was completely empty, Nico came near Percy and looked him over. Nico was not impressed by Percy's condition and murmured, "Pathetic, totally pathetic. I didn't come all the way for _this_, did I?"

_**(Flashback)**_

Nico had no memory of his time before Tartarus. According to the information in his brain, given by 'the voice', he was an orphan who had been thrown into Tartarus by his parents and 'the voice' had saved it.

Nico also didn't remember anything about Camp Half Blood, so he just shadow travelled to the borders, and almost put the mission in jeopardy by being seen by a kid. He quickly hid in the shadows and girl thought she had imagined it.

She must be one of those who patrol the camp – thought Nico. He then slunk all the way to the pavilion to search for this attic in the 'big house'.

But he instead was met by a sight of 70-80 demigods having lunch. So he turned to go the other way and stumbled onto a demigod. The demigod's eyes widened in surprise and he managed to say, "Oh m….." before Nico cleaved the boy's head with his sword.

The sword got stuck, so he put his leg on the demigod's face and pulled. The boy's blood was on the sword which Nico licked clean. Then he dragged the body into a big barn with many weapons just put inside with no categorization.

Nico came out and saw a big building; the only one which was 4 stories tall, in the distance and guessed this was the 'big house'. He looked around to see that no one was around and then slightly opened the door. He then manipulated the shadows to check if there was any shadow of a living being.

The only living being was a bug which was sitting on a bulb. He then walked in but heard voices coming from his behind so he ran up and into a dark room which had many odd objects like a Minotaur's horn, a broken crown, etc.

But he just ignored them and hid in the shadows. After about half and hour he saw a Pegasus and 3 girls enter the room. They had a long conversation and then one of the girls dropped on the floor and then grabbed a body which was sitting on the window sill.

So this is the body of this_ Perseus _– thought Nico – he is quite tightly bound by ropes. Must be celestial bronze ropes. And I have just the perfect weapon to cut through them. After a while the other creatures left the room and he walked out.

_**(Flashback ends)**_

But he unsheathed his sword made of Tartarus' essence and in a clean strike, cut off Percy's chains. Then he lifted Percy's body on his shoulder and tried to shadow travel away. Only to drop down on his knee and making Percy fall on the ground with a thud.

He felt a pounding pain in his head and 'the voice' said, "You do not have to go outside the camp. Wait for Percy to wake up, than start killing the demigods. Anyways, shadow travelling continuously from Tartarus to Camp Half Blood has completely drained you. For now, you can't use any of your powers to even save your life."

Nico mentally nodded his head and then dragged Percy to the corner of the room where he had been hiding and then sat down to meditate.

* * *

**The next chapter will be reeeealy long and will be one of the main chapters of the story. That is one of the reasons I have posted Chapter 8 and 9 just one day apart.**

**Anyways, don't forget to read and review. Your criticism is my motivation.**

**Ringmasterisation signing off  
Until the Chapter 10. **


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm baaaaaaaaaaack. Once again i apologize for the long delay but i had my exams. Anyways, to make up for it, here's an extra long chapter with a lot of action involved. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Patience is a virtue. It is a quality which doesn't come easy to many. Demigods, mortals, all are impatient in some way or the other. Gods have been alive for many millennia so they have learnt to be patient.

Demigods have ADHD which is inbuilt in them to make them battle hardened and to sense any kind of attacks. This is one of the traits which protects demigods.

Nico was getting very impatient while waiting for Percy to get up. He had waited for 3 hours for Percy but only got frustrated by the minute. After meditating for 2 hours he had reached a trance but then his patience ran out.

Even after all the powers he had obtained from 'the voice' he still couldn't be patient, but one couldn't blame him. And being a child of the big three, his ADHD was at extreme, much more than normal demigods.

He started getting angry and nudged Percy but even Nico with his increased powers was quite wary of Percy. After all 'the voice' had told Nico about the deeds of Percy and what he was capable of. Nico knew that anybody who was capable of making a goddess fade and defeat the whole hunt in a fight easily was very dangerous.

After another long hour, Percy's hand shook. Then Percy suddenly sat up and clutched his head with his hands. Then he got up slowly with his back facing Nico and started shaking his hand. Then he raised it and tilted his head, staring at the hand continuously.

Nico's eyes widened as he expected something weird to happen. But after a few minutes he felt stupid looking at Percy so he whispered, "Hey Perseus, look here. What the hell are you doing?"

Percy immediately straightened up and turned to look at Nico, the latter stepped back in the stare of Percy. Percy walked up to Nico and stared in his eyes. Percy was taller than Nico and this added to the nervousness of the already growing fear of Nico.

Nico squeaked, "My name is Nico and I'm here to aid you in the mission of killing all demigods." Percy just punched Nico, who fell down, and then Percy kicked Nico in the gut.

Nico groaned in pain but managed to keep his voice low so that nobody could hear them. He then got up, shook his head and said, "You wanna do it this way, then fine, let's do it this way."

He then ran towards Percy and punched him in the face, but pulled his fist back in pain and clutched it with his other hand. He then said, "Ouch!What kind of a mask is that? Ouch!"

He then kicked Percy in the ribs and to his surprise Percy caught his leg and threw him onto the ground. But Nico jumped up, unsheathed his sword and slashed at Percy's arm. Then he stabbed Percy in the stomach but Percy didn't react. Even a sword made out of the essence of Tartarus couldn't affect Percy.

Percy just stood there while Nico kept twisting the sword, trying to bring some pain, any pain to Percy. Percy then grabbed Nico's throat and lifted him in the air. Nico struggled and punched and kicked in the air but to no avail. Percy would have killed Nico had it not been for a sudden and hard pain in his head.

He dropped Nico and clutched his head. Nico himself coughed and gasped for air. Then 'the voice' said in the heads of the warriors of the dark, "Fools, you don't have to fight between yourself. You are a team who fight against the gods and their children. Stop this idiotic fight and start killing the demigods."

Then it was all silent. Nico got up and shook his head, then cautiously approached Percy and pointed at his sword, "My sword. If I could just take it out ….." Percy pulled out the sword from his stomach and dropped it on the ground. Percy just kept staring at Nico and Nico stared back. The contest ended when Nico said, "We have to get out of the big-house and I don't want to waste my energy in shadow-travelling. So we will have to be stealthy. Follow me."

He then picked up his sword, walked out of the attic while Percy slowly followed him. They descended down the stairs but Nico raised his hand to motion Percy to stop as he was checking the room for any presences. Suddenly a picture of a centaur reading a book flashed in his mind and Nico knew that entering the room now would endanger the mission.

There was a centaur in the room reading a book. Nico motioned Percy to step back and they both waited for this being to leave.

**Line Breaker**

After showing Percy's body to Annabeth, Chiron had gone down and tried to forget the recent events by settling down with a novel and a cup of coffee. After having a peaceful time of nearly 5 hours he heard a crash upstairs in the attic.

He sighed, wishing for a vacation from all the demigod troubles and the situation with Percy. He readied his bow and arrow and then went near the stairs to check it out when, from the corner of his eye he saw a bright purple flash with the smell of wine vines in the air.

He turned around with a sigh and got ready to welcome Dionysus, who was sentenced to the demigod camp for a century.

Chiron was surprised to see the condition of Dionysus, because the wine god was drunk when he was not supposed to be so. Chiron's curiosity got the better of him and he asked the god about his state.

"Mr. D, where have you been for the past few days when you were supposed to be here? And why are you drunk? What if your father gets to know about it?"

The god stumbled around for a while and then shook his head hard, as if to shake of the drunkenness. Then he answered, "I have been in Olympus the whole time, and it was lovely. I had so much fun. But now I want to sleep. Give me a bed"

But Chiron asked again, "But how were you on Olympus for so long without Lord Zeus getting to know about it?"

Mr. D then said, "Oh, I will tell you everything right now Chiron. You will be fascinated to hear my adventures."

**Flashback (Dionysus POV)**

When the victory celebrations ended and the emergency council meeting began I was drunk the whole time, because father gave me the permission to drink just for that time so I took full advantage of the situation.

As it is I can't be of much use to this situation regarding Peter Johnson and father was too worked up on it along with Uncle Poseidon, Hades and Artemis.

I knew that father would concentrate more on Peter and less on me so I sneaked back to my palace and stayed there for the whole time. I kept drinking for my personal stash of wine and I drank till the next time I got a message from Hermes to attend another emergency council meeting.

I attended all the council meetings but I never said anything so nobody looked at me. After the meeting I went to Aphrodite's palace. I found her in the verandah, giving a makeover to a nymph.

"Hey Aphrodite, give me a potion that disguises my drunken smell and makes me look suitable for council meetings."

She didn't say anything at first and then, "Go inside my palace and wait in the living room. I will see you there in a few minutes."

I thought I should argue but then I quietly went inside. Her palace was all pink with pictures of her in all types of poses with numerous men. I sat on the couch near a small table which had another makeover set on it.

After a while she came in, dressed in a long a gown with a lot of make-up. I went straight to the point, "I want a potion that disguises my breath and also a makeover which makes me look suitable for the council meetings. There are a lot of emergencies these days. So the makeover should last. I have a golden opportunity to enjoy wine and I don't want to let it go."

After a few moments Aphrodite said, "You do look disgusting. I see you tried to use godly energy to disguise your drunkenness but you are also getting very exhausted because of it. A makeover is easy; I will do it for you. But what will you do for me in return?"

I should have known that she would ask something in return but didn't know what to give. While I was thinking she said, "If you think I would do it for free then you are mistaken, my fellow Olympian."

I muttered angrily, "You know, I can always go to Hecate for potions."

She then said with a shrug, "Yes you can, but her prices are exorbitant and she only does free work when the whole council tells her to do so. So you either face the wrath of your father or you give me something in exchange for my help."

I knew that my bluff had been called but I had nothing to give her so I just sighed and said, "What do you want from me?"

"Well right now, I don't have a need for anything ….but … well, I want two things from you. One is very easy and the other depends on your abilities. Do you accept?" asked Aphrodite.

I replied uneasily, "Ok, if that is what it takes? What do I have to do?"

She just grinned and said, "You are the god of madness, so you can control somebody's mind. I want you to control my husband, Hephaestus's mind and make him destroy all the traps he has laid out for me and Ares."

I was shocked. She was asking me to manipulate and then erase an Olympians memory. "I can't do that. It is impossible. Hephaestus is an Olympian, entering his mind is not going to be easy."

"Even your makeover isn't going to be easy" retorted Aphrodite.

"Oh come on, you give somebody or the other a makeover every day."I whined.

"Do you want one or not?" asked Aphrodite, albeit harshly and then she started glaring at me.

I just sighed and then shook my head and said, "What's the other thing you want?"

Aphrodite glared at me for a few more minutes and then a coy smile appeared on her face. "Well you see, Ares is quite busy these days and doesn't have much time for me. He keeps on training the whole time as he wants to fight Percy and take revenge for his humiliation. And this has caused me to be a bit …. tense these past few days."

I was thoroughly confused and she must have seen the look on my face because she continued, "Well, I was hoping that I would find some release somehow and the usual massages just don't cut it. So I am wondering if you can help me."

I was still confused but now I was speechless too. I still didn't get the meaning of her words and she must have guessed that because she just huffed and came up to me and kissed me. I was very surprised and then she broke the kiss. "Now do you know what I want?"

I kept grinning while she pulled me to her bedroom. But then I asked, "What if Ares gets to know?"

"Don't worry about that warhead, he won't know a thing and besides he will listen to almost any lie I tell him. You think about the present." Aphrodite winked.

**(After a few hours ….)**

When I later left the palace my drunken breath was gone and I didn't even smell. All this was the work of Aphrodite. She would do the rest when the second task was complete.

I knew that erasing Hephaestus' memories would be very tough because he was an Olympian. But the effort could be reduced if his mind would be in a weakened state.

So I took my best bottle of champagne and went to the forges of Olympus. I stood in front of his palace door but couldn't enter as I needed his permission.

So I said, "Iris, I want to talk to Hephaestus." We gods didn't need to pay a drachma like the demigods. We got free Iris Messaging for as long as we want.

A small mist formed in front of me and soon Hephaestus' image came up. As always he was at his desk working on some piece of machinery. I said, "Hephaestus, let me come into your palace right now. I want to talk to you."

Hephaestus kept tinkering with his machinery but then grunted, "I give you permission to come in my palace."

I smirked and then went into the palace. The god of blacksmiths had a big palace but it was all covered with soot and dust, and there were pieces of machineries scattered all over.

I went to the inside forges where the entire Cyclops workforce got up from their work, bowed to me and then got back to their work.

I walked straight towards Hephaestus and then said, "Hey brother, I was thinking that as you keep working all day you must get tired sometime or the other. So I say that we should go back to my palace and have some brother to brother time. Just you and me and a bottle of my best champagne as company."

I could see that Hephaestus was surprised, and why shouldn't he be? It was the first time in forever that I had ever told anything of this sort to him. He looked at me and then kept staring.

"Dionysus, are you alright? Did you just say that we have some brother to brother time?" said Hephaestus, shocked.

"Yeah, I have figured that with another war on the brink it would be a good time to spend some quality time with family. And the first god who came to my mind was you. So come on, let's drink some champagne and have some fun." lied Dionysus.

Hephaestus again had a look of concentration on his face but he agreed with little hesitation. Then we went to my palace where my powers would be stronger and nobody would see me drinking wine, especially father.

I made him sit on the couch and then went waved my hand to make 2 golden glasses appear. I then poured the drink and waited for the fun to begin.

**(After 4 Hours …)**

I had successfully gotten Hephaestus drunk and I could see that his current mental state was weak enough to be brainwashed.

I snapped my fingers and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Then I closed my eyes and felt my essence enter his mind.

There were actual images of machines and automatons roaming here and there in his head. I then searched for all memories related to Aphrodite and I could feel the pain that Hephaestus felt all the time because of Aphrodite's various affairs.

Heartbreak, betrayal, depression, self-pity and much more. All this made me want to cry, but I needed to do this quick.

I then searched for memories related to Aphrodite and Ares. I felt the emotions anger, fury and hate.

I kept searching till I came upon the memories of the traps that have been set up for all time. I was surprised at their simplicity yet the humiliation they would cause.

I then decided that I had spent a lot of time so I copied the memories in my mind and then deleted the original in the Hephaestus' brain.

I then came out of his mind and sat down gasping. I was exhausted but the mission was finally complete. But I felt sad, betraying my half-brother like that.

So I put a spell on him that made sure that he would remember the traps only if I wanted it to be so. Then I went to Aphrodite's palace and gave her the memories.

She took me to her dressing room which was huge. Then she started the work and after a few minutes she said, "There. It is all done now. Nobody should be able to know that you have been drinking from the past few days except for me, of course. You are free to go now."

"Wait" I asked, "Should be? You mean somebody can see through all this?"

Aphrodite just said, "Well, there is always a margin of error which even I can't avoid."

I nodded and then flashed out to my palace to see my father standing there with his arms crossed. He glared at me and I could only gulp.

He then said in an icy cold voice, "Where were you for the past few days?"

I stuttered, "Ol…..Olym…Olym…."

"Olympus. Even though you are banished you dare to disobey my command and decide to stay in Olympus. And what have you …. What have you put on your face?"

He snapped his fingers and the makeover came of showing my true drunken self. He then exploded, "You have been drinking wine behind my back. Do you think this all is a joke? Our very existence is at a threat. Perseus has become very powerful and his power keeps growing. Already a goddess has been made to fade and his barrage has just begun. Let me tell you this Dionysus, you are treading on thin ice. I will forgive you this one time but if this incident repeats itself then your banishment from Olympus will be extended to a millennium. Now get out of my sight."

I flashed out as fast as I could and came to the camp.

**(Flashback Over)**

"Well, your adventure had its ups and downs. For now you should sleep and have rest. You are lucky your father doesn't know about the escapade with Hephaestus …. yet." said Chiron.

By the time Chiron stopped speaking Dionysus was already asleep.

**Line Breaker**

As soon as Chiron took Dionysus inside Nico said to Percy, "Come on, now's our chance. We must get out of here."

Both the warriors slunk out of there though in Percy's case it was more of normal walking but even then there was not much voice made.

After exiting the big house Nico closed his eyes to scout the area using the shadows of the vegetation and the cabins as his tools. After a few moments he opened his eyes and said, "Right about now all demigods are eating their food in the big open auditorium. We will kill them all in their sleep. It is the quickest and quietest way of killing them all. But the wild card will be god of wine who just arrived in the bug house now. We must be wary of him."

He turned to face Percy but was shocked to see nobody. He softly called out Percy's name but to no avail. He kept on walking when he suddenly tripped on something. He rolled forward and unsheathed his sword to point at …. a dead rabbit.

The neck was horribly decapicitated and there was no head. The whole thing had been torn off. 'Must be the doing of Percy' thought Nico.

He kept walking and saw Percy in the distance dragging his feet toward a silver colored cabin. Nico immediately started running towards him.

Percy had been standing behind Nico, waiting for him to open his eyes when he saw a silver colored building in the distance from the corner of his eye.

He turned around and started walking towards the cabin because he was reminded of the girls who he had fought and had been captured by.

He wanted nothing but to cut down each and every last one of them. But he was stopped by Nico who was panting a lot and who said, "What are you doing? Have you gone mad? We have to be stealthy and invisible. You don't have to go crash a cabin just now. Wait for the right moment and then I will help you in doing the same."

Percy didn't listen and just kept walking. Nico had to literally drag Percy to the bushes and tie him up with a tree vine.

Percy then sat emotionless and Nico exhaled a deep breath he didn't know he was holding.

**Line Breaker**

Conner was very, very happy. His brother Travis, who had been busted open by Percy that afternoon, had finally come to and Connor was stealing from the Ares cabin to make Travis more cheerful.

Chiron had said that with recent events all the campers were becoming dull and irritated and that any activities that amused the others would be beneficial for the whole camp.

Then he put the responsibility on the Stoll brothers who had to do pranks and other stuff to make everybody happy.

Right now Connor was stealing weapons and clothes from the Ares cabin and taking them to his brother to show that he had successfully 'ripped off' the bullies.

He was near the Artemis cabin when he heard a voice come from the bushes. He stopped and listened and heard a person talking.

He then called out, "Who's there? Show yourself right now. If this is a prank then it is a very stupid idea because my name is Connor and I'm a Stoll. Not even the Ares cabin can stand up to my might."

There was silence. Nico punched Percy in the shoulder and whispered; "Now you have done it. If we are discovered I will kill you, immortal or not.

Percy then tugged at the vine around his leg so hard that the tree from which the vine came fell down. Connor jumped back at the sound of the falling the tree and in a quivering voice he squeaked, "Who's there?"

As he was greeted by silence he then dropped all his loot and ran towards the pavilion as fast as possible.

But a jet black spear suddenly came and pierced Connor's shoulder and he fell down. Meanwhile Nico was shouting/whispering at Percy, "I have to clean up your mess now. Screw you."

By the time Nico reached Connor the spear had disappeared. Then Nico walked up to Connor and picked him up by the throat. Connor was already in pain but when he saw Nico's face he choked out, "Nico, you….. you're here. What are you doing? Let me go."

Hearing Connor's words Nico only squeezed tighter and then choke slammed him to the ground. Connor groaned and clutched his back and head. He then tried to get up but the pain from the spear wound was unbearable and Nico was standing on the son of Hermes' abdomen, making his speech impossible.

Then Nico slowly unsheathed his sword and inserted it in the shoulder wound of Connor. Connor started to shout in pain but Nico kicked him in the jaw, effectively breaking it.

Connor was on the ground now but he was still a son of Hermes and a demigod. So he packed all his energy in one fist and _tried _to punch Nico. Emphasis on tried.

Nico easily caught the fist and crushed it. Connor screamed again and Nico decided to end the demigod's agony.

Nico cut off Connor's head in one clean slice. When he turned around he saw Percy almost near the silver cabin's door. Nico acted on instinct and stuck out his hand. Percy's own shadow reacted and Percy was suck on the ground.

Nico knew that someone of Percy's caliber would break off the shadow trap soon so Nico quickly ran towards Percy and dragged him back by the arm. "You want to destroy it; well I'll do it for you. Watch and learn."

Nico then walked a bit away from the cabin, taking Percy with him. Then he raised his palm which was facing the Artemis cabin and gathered all his energy, calling out to the shadows of the whole area nearby.

The shadows wrapped around the cabin slowly covering it and crushing the whole cabin. As the matter and materials were not supposed to be forced together by such sudden force there was great pressure being exerted by them for release.

Nico knew this and also that if he let the shadows relax then the whole cabin would explode. He was just waiting for the right amount of pressure. Too less pressure and the cabin would hardly be destroyed.

Too much and the sound produced would be so much that it would be heard by the campers. After enough pressure was built, Nico looked towards Percy and said, "Now see the destruction."

Nico left his control and with sudden freedom the whole cabin burst apart creating a huge _boom_. The explosion was huge but there was no fire or smoke. The cabin was in pieces and rubble.

**Line Breaker**

Phoebe was very hungry. After coming from the big house the hunters sat in the cabin trying to relax and freshen up.

Soon it was time for dinner and all the hunters left except Phoebe who said that she wasn't hungry. The truth was that she didn't want to see the disgusting faces of the male campers. And after her escapade with the killer, Perseus, she definitely needed some alone time.

After having a few hours rest she woke up to a scream. She immediately got up, readied her bow and arrow and ran to the door. She opened it to see a boy fallen on the ground struggling and screaming for nothing.

Just seeing a male filled her with so much anger that the best she could do to not shoot him right then and there was to slam the door close and go back to bed.

She woke up again after a few minutes to a rumbling. She got up dazed and looked around to see that the whole cabin was shaking. She was still groggy when the whole cabin exploded and she flew into the air, her body already filled with bruises and wounds leaking blood.

Her vision was blurry and her whole body was so numb that when she fell down on the ground she couldn't feel any pain and also not recognize the two people who were standing over her body.

**Line Breaker**

Seeing the hunter at his feet filled Nico's head with ideas. He could do so much with the girl at his feet. During his time in Tartarus the visions in his head had also been about the cruelty of the hunters, and how they killed men for no reason just because they had the tools to do so.

Well, it was time somebody gave them a pill of their own medicine. Phoebe started to move and was actually able to get up. Nico had to commend her; surviving the explosion was a feat in itself, but getting up after can only prove one thing – either the girl was incredibly brave or insanely stupid.

Phoebe got up and stumbled backwards and as her vision started to clear she was able to make out 2 figures standing in front of her. After a few moments she could make out that they were boys and thinking of them as male demigods she said, "What are you two idiots doing in front me? Did you blow up the Artemis cabin? You better run away or I will make sure you can never walk again for the rest of your incredibly small lives."

Expecting the demigods to flinch and run away, she was surprised when they didn't even budge. This angered her more and she punched the boy with black attire on the face. There was no effect on the boy and Phoebe was very, very surprised.

A punch like that from this distance would have broken the nose completely. Even though her vision was still hazy she could hear properly, "Well, well, well, looks like we have a hunter on our hands. It is surprising that you survived an explosion of that magnitude, let alone to get up and have the power to punch. But I have to say that that was a very pathetic punch."

As her vision came back completely she recognized the two people standing in front of her. One was the murderer Perseus, the other, the boy she had just punched was Nico, the son of Hades and the brother of the dead hunter, Bianca.

"You, you're the brother of Bianca, the dead hunter." sputtered Bianca. Now when a person says anything about somebody's dead relative it will piss anybody off, no matter who he is. And Nico was always one with a short temper.

He shouted, "How dare you say her name? You don't deserve to say her name." Then he punched the hunter on the face, breaking her nose and spraining her jaw. He felt sad when he remembered Bianca and happy when Percy grabbed Phoebe's hair and kicked her head.

Nico mumbled, "What …" before Percy pushed him out of the way, dragging the hunter along by the hair.

Reaching a nearby tree Percy left Phoebe's hair and caught her legs. Then he swung her like a bat, hitting the tree. He kept doing it till a nymph staggered out of the tree and fell down, probably unconscious.

But even then Percy continued, showing no mercy. Blood was flowing like a river from her head which had been busted open quite a while ago. Till Nico came and said, "That's enough, she's dead alright. And even the campers have started to come. Let's get out of here. I have a plan that will fill the demigods with fear."

For one last time Percy banged Phoebe against the tree and then threw her away like the dead carcass she was.

Then the two warriors walked away from the scene, waiting for the whole situation to come to unfold.

**Line Breaker**

Chiron was in the pavilion eating food along with 50-60 other campers who were eating food without the usual chatter. No one was themselves tonight.

Knowing what they knew, any camper would be sad. Even though the war had been won, the reason they won the war was missing. Everybody's dear hero, Percy was missing.

Chiron then stood up and shouted and stamped his hooves. Everybody's head turned to look at him and Chiron sighed as he knew that the time had finally come to tell everybody the truth.

He knew that Katie was correct, that the demigods sitting in front of him had gone through a war and come out alive, and so were mentally capable of handling the news about Percy and Nico.

He then started his explanation and not one camper interrupted, how could they after hearing that the person they considered their friend and leader was now an enemy of Olympus and the one responsible for the recent murders.

There was quietness surrounding the whole pavilion and the tension was so tense that it could be cut with a pair of blunt scissors. Chiron then said, "If nobody has anything to say then …"

He was interrupted by a huge explosion and some of the campers were so startled that they fell down from their seats. But then everybody gathered their wits and rushed towards the sound.

It was surprising how a bunch of shocked and silent children had suddenly transformed into a trained group of warriors who were ready for anything from monsters to ….. well, monsters.

Chiron galloped towards the explosion but couldn't see any smoke or fire. Because of his speed he reached first and saw the ruins of a cabin.

And seeing the rest of the cabins he realized that the destroyed cabin was none other than the Artemis cabin. He could also make out three bodies – two near the tree and one between the Artemis and Apollo cabins.

Chiron was so shocked at seeing the sight before him that he couldn't move. The other demigods reached the scene and took in the destroyed cabin and the three bodies lying around.

The hunters immediately blamed the male demigods for no reason and a fight broke out. Then a small hunter named Pamela went near the bodies near the tree and recognized one of them to be of Phoebe's.

She started shouting and all the hunters crowded around the dead hunter. The demigods recognized the body of Connor Stoll and all the campers crowded around him.

Seeing that Chiron was frozen still and there were fights erupting between demigods and hunters, Annabeth knew she had to take control. 'But what to do to get their attention?' thought Annabeth.

Suddenly Thalia shouted, "The nymph is still alive."

Annabeth rushed towards the place and saw Thalia cradling the nymph in her lap. The nymph was speaking between short breaths, "Something was ….. hitting the tree. At first I thought it was a camper who got pushed ….. against the tree. So I ignored it. But when it happened again … and again there was so much pain that I couldn't bear it. After a few more hits …. I came out of the tree and saw a boy ….. holding a girl by the legs. The girl was bleeding … uncontrollably from the head. By then I had fallen down."

Thalia then said, "It's okay. You should rest now. Everything will be alright."

The nymph nodded and then closed her eyes. Thalia grimaced and then said, "Tell every camper and hunter that there is an intruder in camp. All the guards should be handling the posts that they are supposed to. And all the cabin counselors will come to the big house for a meeting. All this should happen within the next 15 minutes."

Annabeth was going to tell all of this to Chiron when there was another huge explosion and everybody looked in the direction of the sound to see the Dionysus cabin all blown but without any sign of fire or smoke.

Standing a bit away from the rubble were two boys, one of whom had his palm raised and facing the destroyed cabin while the other was standing completely motionless, staring at the demigods.

The boys started walking towards the assembled crowd and everybody could make out the face of Nico and the mask of Percy. The whole group was stunned. 'Wasn't Nico in Tartarus? Who is the masked boy? They destroyed the Dionysus Cabin?' were some of the questions thrown around.

Nico then said, "And what do we have here? A dead hunter and demigod? I'm sorry but I just can't help it. It is a lot of fun destroying cabins and killing demigods. The boy died in horrible pain but I relieved him in the end. And you can't imagine the fun I had with the girl lying there. Do you know that in the end she was enjoying it all?"

Thalia said, "What are you saying Nico? Are you all right? And get away from Percy, he will kill you. You have no idea what he has become."

"On the contrary, _you_ have no idea what hehas become. Anyways enough idle chat. I am here to fight. Do you have what it takes to beat me or are you a weakling like those carcasses?"

Thalia cried, "Shut the fuck up you bastard. I will make sure that you visit your father in hell."

Nico just smirked, "Where did you think I have come from?"

Thalia took out her spear and Aegis, her shield and shouted behind her shoulder, "Nobody interrupts me and him." Then she ran towards Nico. The son of Hades just got in a loose fighting stance and waited. Thalia started running sideways and Nico ran close behind.

Meanwhile Annabeth had walked to the front of the crowd and was staring at Percy. She then walked towards Percy slowly and started talking, "Seaweed Brain, what have you become? Why are you doing this? At least answer me. Say something. Do you even remember me? I am your Wise Girl."

Percy just kept staring at Annabeth without saying a word. Annabeth was approaching closer than ever to her ex best-friend and current mass murderer.

Annabeth continued, "I should have said this to you before, when you were….. you. But it seems I am too late. For the first time in my life I regret thinking from my mind and not my emotions and feelings, from my heart. I love you Perseus Jackson. I love you so very much."

By this time Annabeth was inches away from Percy, "But even my love for you cannot make me oblivious to the pain you have caused. The people you have killed. As much as I love you I cannot let you hurt the ones closest to me. I am sorry it had to come to this."

Annabeth then took out her knife, twirled it between her fingers and tried to stab Percy in the stomach but he caught her hand.

She stared at her with those ever beautiful sea green eyes of his. Annabeth was star struck and mesmerized. He backhanded the daughter of Athena and flung her to the ground.

Annabeth rolled back and then stood up in a full fighting stance.

Nico was having fun. His opponent, Thalia was a very strong demigod and had a lot of experience as she was able to match Nico blow for blow. But what they both already know was that Nico was just toying with her.

Thalia was using her full force while Nico's sword was still sheathed. Thalia sliced at his neck with her spear but Nico ducked and kicked Thalia but she blocked with her shield. Even then she was forced back because of the power.

Then he said ran towards her and jabbed her in the face and stomach again and again. His strikes were so quick that Thalia didn't have time to raise her shield.

Nico then drew his fist back for a final punch and Thalia managed to raise her shield to block her face. But Nico changed his tactic and kicked her in the stomach and Thalia bent over and got axe-punched by Nico on the back.

Thalia fell down on her knees as Nico said, "I think warm-ups over, let's begin the real fight shall we?"

Thalia wiped her mouth and then said, "Yeah let's do that." Nico formed a sword of shadow while electricity began coursing through Thalia's spear.

Nico ran toward Thalia and sliced at her neck and abdomen but she blocked both the times. Thalia then swung her shield at his head but a shield of shadow appeared from nowhere and blocked the strike.

Thalia was surprised and stumbled back because of the recoil of her own force and Nico kicked her in the head with a roundhouse, stunning Thalia.

Then Nico slashed at Thalia's hands which made her drop her weapons. He proceeded to kick her in the abdomen but she caught his leg. Electricity started coursing through her as she shocked Nico with as much power as she could give.

Thalia then swung the leg and threw Nico to the ground. Nico was dazed but shook his head to shake of the grogginess.

He then smirked and said, "If it's a bout of powers you want, it is what you will get."

Then Nico's sword disappeared and an aura of darkness covered him from head to toe. "Let's begin round three now, shall we?"

Thalia just grimaced in response as her body again arched with electricity.

Annabeth was having a hard time fighting Percy – partly because he was so strong and partly because she was holding back.

The only reason she had even survived till now was because of her reflexes. She put on her invisibility cap but Percy immediately caught her and flung her on the ground, tearing her invisibility cap.

She pleaded, "Percy, don't do this, please. Don't do this. We can get you help, please.

Percy then ran towards Annabeth with lightning speed and punched her on her jaw line. Annabeth wasn't fast enough to dodge and the blow would have knocked her out had she not rolled her head along the path of the punch.

Then he kicked Annabeth and she fell on the floor. Annabeth then shouted, "Seaweed Brain" and threw her knife at Percy. He caught it but Annabeth took the time to kick the distracted Percy.

Percy stumbled back and Annabeth punched him on the mask … and her hand broke. "Ahhhhhhhh, my hand" shouted Annabeth.

Then Percy kicked Annabeth and she fell on the floor. He then crouched over her and punched her, knocking her out. But even then he continued till Clarisse interrupted. She said to her fellow demigods, "I don't know how you can watch all of this but I surely can't."

She then brought her knee to Percy's face, which made him stumble back, more in surprise then in harm. Clarisse continued, "I am not as weak as the others Prissy. I will kill you before you harm anybody else. You don't know how long I have waited for this rematch."

She then readied her electric spear, Maimer 3 and ran towards Percy. Percy tilted his head and stood that way till Clarisse was almost in striking distance.

Then he stuck out the palm of his hand and deflected the spear. Because of the momentum Clarisse kept running and Percy bought his arm up to clothesline her but she ducked.

She then roundhouse kicked him on the back but it had no effect on him. He then elbowed behind his back and got rewarded with a big 'Ouch' and the cracking of bone. Looking behind he saw that Clarisse's nose was broken and blood was continuously flowing out of it.

Clarisse was hunched over in pain and he kneed her face and then punched her. Clarisse fell down but she still had some life left in her. The Percy started punching and kicking her but didn't kill her …. yet.

Meanwhile, Nico and Thalia had begun to fight with their powers. Thalia was bringing down bolts from the sky which Nico kept defending himself from by bringing up shadow shields. Nico smirked, then raised a hand and watched, amused, as dark tendrils snaked around Thalia's ankles and up her legs. She struggled, causing her to lose balance and fall. Thalia snarled at the expression on Nico's face and charged herself up with lighting before releasing it straight at her opponent.

Nico decided to take the bolt head on so as to make Thalia feel weak, but when the lightning struck him he didn't anticipate the power behind it and so got scorched.

Thalia smirked, expecting to see Nico down and out but when the smoke cleared the only difference was that his hair was standing and his arms were covered with soot. He then grinned and said, "Not bad, not bad at all. But you have to know that I am much, much stronger than you and your attacks will not harm me in the slightest."

Thalia just said, "Well, that means I will have to try again and again."

She ran towards Nico and sent small bolts on the way. They did nothing more than irritate him as he had a slight scowl on his face.

Thalia then jumped and grabbed Nico's shoulders with a sudden burst of speed, and then used all her power to give him the biggest lightning bolt she had ever given anybody.

Nico's eyes widened as he felt the fatal lightning attack his body and he managed to cover his body with a thin layer of protective shadow-membrane. Then Thalia stepped back and kneeled, gasping, as she had used all her power and could not continue anymore.

Nico then stepped forward, cracking his knuckles and with a savage grin on his face. He then spoke, "That was a good one, really surprised me. But as I told you before, you don't have enough power to harm me. Now it's my turn. But to make sure that your friends don't come in between …"

Nico waved his hand and a dome appeared which covered Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse and himself. He then said, "Let this fight be to the death. I will prove to everyone how strong I am after killing the daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant of Artemis."

Then Nico took out his actual sword, which was made by the essence of Tartarus, and slowly walked towards Thalia.

She was so tired that she didn't have the power to sit up and she closed her eyes, praying to her father for help. She knew it would be worthless as the gods rarely answered their children's prayers on time.

She finally accepted her fate, to die in Camp Half Blood by the hands of her own cousin. Suddenly she felt a huge flash of light and opened her eyes to see the whole Olympian council along with Hades standing in the middle of the dome in full battle armor.

She sighed and then mentally thanked her father. Nico looked at the gods, blinked and then started laughing, "The Olympians are finally here. I was beginning to wonder when you would come. Now the proper fight will begin. I have to ask, was it easy to penetrate my shadow dome?"

Zeus said in a cold voice, "Give yourself up Nico Di Angelo. You cannot win against the whole Olympian council. Surrender and we might think about not erasing you from existence."

Nico burst out laughing again, "You think I should surrender? Can't you see that I can kill your daughter in one strike? I can erase this camp from existence in the very next minute but that would do now good for my cause. I hold all the cards right now Zeus and there's nothing you can …"

Nico was interrupted by Ares who shouted, "Perseus Jackson, you bastard, I will destroy your very existence and make sure you never reform. How dare you touch my daughter?"

Then Ares revealed his godly form and ran towards Percy. The other gods tried to stop him but he was long gone. Percy calmly stood up, leaving the near-dead Clarisse to be, with his back facing Ares.

Ares was blinded by anger, hate and vengeance and so he failed to Percy's hand creeping toward his pocket. Ares thought that Percy was unarmed. Percy just put his hand in his pocket and in a very invisible motion took out a pen, which he opened to form Riptide.

He hid the sword by holding it in front of him, making Ares think he was unarmed. After Ares was close enough Percy turned and stabbed Ares ribs.

Ares stumbled back and coughed up blood while Percy pulled out his sword. "Where ….. the sword?" asked a confused Ares.

Then 'the voice' started talking, using Percy as a medium, "Hello Olympians, I am your destruction and that is all you need to know right now. But you should get ready to watch your god of war get destroyed. You have no idea what you are facing and I give you the chance to give up. Surrender and I might deal with you less harshly. But …. as an incentive to help you on the correct path …"

Percy then dropped his sword and stepped forward, picking up Ares by the neck and back, "to make you suffer through your pain ….. to prolong your agony, I will …"

All the gods watched, mortified and horrified as Percy slammed Ares' back on his knee while the voice simultaneously shouted, "BREAK YOU"

Percy then threw Ares on the ground, who was now slightly spasming. In a symbolic act Percy broke Ares' back. 'The voice' continued, though it was fading, "Think about it Olympians, do you want such things to happen to the others too, just because they are fighting on your side?"

Apollo yelled in anger and ran towards Percy with his bow ready. Nico saw this and ran towards Percy too, who was standing straight. Nico jumped to reach Percy a few seconds before Apollo and the warriors of 'the voice' disappeared in a black mist.

Apollo then ran towards Ares who was now unconscious and transported both of them to his palace. The other Olympians also flashed out taking Thalia, Annabeth, Clarisse, Connor and Phoebe with them.

* * *

**Well, how was it? Please R&R.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**The Olympian Throne Room**

"If we don't do something, we will be forced to cease from existence. We must kill him and save the world. We can't let some other being start a new age of immortal rule." said Zeus.

"That's bullshit and you know it. If your child was in a similar situation, you would do anything to save her or him, wouldn't you?" shouted Poseidon.

"But my child isn't in such a situation so you can't say anything about me." smirked Zeus.

"We all know why Percy was the one Kronos chose to infect. It is because Percy is the strongest demigod alive and there is no one who comes even near to him, in terms of skill, power or technique. After all, he defeated Kronos by himself and also defeated Ares." said Poseidon, with a smile on his face.

"Right now we have no reason to fight among ourselves. And Poseidon, I understand that you are upset but the crimes committed by Perseus have reached a whole new height. He even hurt Ares' godly form, so he is quite strong. We have to advance with caution regarding this situation and I'm sorry to say but if you're not with the council, you're against it." said Athena.

"Athena, I didn't expect this from you. I thought you would be the voice of reason in this whole mess. My son isn't doing this; he is being controlled by somebody else. If we can just try to save Percy instead of trying to kill him off, then I have to say that you are just being selfish." shouted Poseidon.

"Poseidon, don't be a crybaby. Be a god and start getting a control over your emotions. He's just a spawn. Don't be so sad over it." Zeus scoffed.

"You have no right to say that. When your daughter was almost dying, you broke the ancient rules by converting her into a tree. I have to say you should be grateful she is even alive right now. My son saved her and didn't even get thanks for his efforts. You should be kissing my son's feet for saving your daughter's ungrateful ass." shouted Poseidon.

"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT? DO NOT FORGET THAT I AM YOUR KING. IF I WANT, I CAN KICK YOU OUT OF OLYMPUS. YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL I EVEN LET YOU STEP ONTO MY DOMAIN. THIS IS THE THANKS YOU GIVE ME FOR KEEPING OLYMPUS SAVE UNDER MY GLORIOUS RULE?" screamed Zeus.

"Glorious rule? Your rule has been full of wars, not including the ones against the Giants. First I had to fight my brother Hades and be on your pathetic side. If not for me, you wouldn't have been able to Typhon. Olympus would be a huge space of rubble and Kronos would be back in power. You don't deserve to be the king of Olympus. You're just lucky my fatal flaw is loyalty." screamed Poseidon.

"We should all be quiet. Let's think about what we're talking right now. We should not be fighting at a time like this. It would not be healthy for Olympus. We should go past our petty differences and think about our home and how to protect it. This current crisis is as threatening as Kronos, maybe even more. We should act as a unit, the unit a family constitutes." said Athena.

"It's just that ….. ah, forget it. I'm going to my palace. Hermes, inform me of any new developments that take place." Poseidon then disappeared in a mist of sea-green mist and a few weeds.

Zeus then said, "As of today, Perseus Jackson is a Tartarus-level criminal wanted for treason, murder and widespread destruction. If found he will be killed or captured, as possible, and has to be brought in front of the council for immediate removal from existence."

"What about that son of Hades? Even he was there, laughing at us like we are a bunch of fools. He must have grown quite powerful too, he was quicker then Apollo, we all saw his speed. He must have a ripped body with a 6 pack ab." said Aphrodite, drool dripping from her mouth.

"Sheesh Aphrodite, keep it in your pants. We don't want to hear about your daydreams. And Nico is now our enemy. This unfortunate incident proves that we need to eat cereal everyday to be stronger. Cereal is the key to defeating Perseus." said Demeter in a wise voice.

Zeus coughed loudly, "Now Hermes, go to Apollo and get me an update on Ares' condition. We have to up the training for the camper's because in their current state, they are in no condition to fight Percy and Nico at all. And Dionysus, Dionysus, wake up."

Dionysus sat up straight and squealed, "Yes father?"

Zeus frowned, "I have come to a decision, and I don't think anybody in the council will go against it. You are now removed from the council. I am sure you remember the reason why. The replacement for you and Ares will be chosen at a later meeting. All but Athena will stay here. Meeting dismissed."

**There is a reason that happened too. Let's go back in time to a few hours ago, just about when Nico and Percy had disappeared from the camp. Now when I told you that the whole Olympian council had come, I was wrong. Let me just explain it to you.**

**Flashback**

Instead of flashing back to Olympus, Zeus had flashed to the big house. He had missed Dionysus in the whole batch and when he had counted 12, he had mistaken Hades for Dionysus.

But Hades had been surprisingly quiet the whole time, even after seeing his son mocking the gods and having gone over to the other side.

Anyways, Zeus went into the inner room where Dionysus was currently passed out. He took out his Master Bolt and gave Dionysus a mildly painful shock.

Dionysus woke up in an instant, all his sleepiness gone and his hair and eyebrows singed. Dionysus shook his head and then stared at his father with a squint.

Then they widened and he realized that something big had happened. He stood straight and asked, "Father, why are you here? What happened?"

Zeus just glared at Dionysus for a few moments and then he said in a controlled and calm voice, "The whole Olympian council was out there in the camp. Did you know that a camper and hunter are dead, the Artemis and Apollo are destroyed and a few campers are in critical condition?"

Dionysus just shrugged, "Must be some small monster attack. We keep getting that the whole time. And if the campers and hunters can't handle it then it's their fault." Big mistake.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT? DID YOU KNOW THAT ARES' BACK IS BROKEN AND HE HAS BEEN STABBED THROUGH THE HEART EVEN THOUGH HE WAS IN HIS GODLY FORM? HOW CAN YOU BE SO DENSE? DID YOU KNOW THAT PERSEUS JACKSON ESCAPED AND WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THIS ALONG WITH NICO, SON OF HADES, WHO IS NOW ON THE SIDE OF OUR MYSTERY OPPONENTS? YOUR WINE HAS DULLED YOU SO MUCH THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN REALIZE THE FACT THAT 2 CAMPERS JUST DIED. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF I TOLD YOU THAT YOUR CHILD DIED RIGHT NOW? WOULD YOU BE AS IGNORANT AS YOU ARE RIGHT NOW? HUH?" screamed Zeus.

Dionysus was fallen on the floor because in his temper, Zeus had kept shocking the wine god gain and again with his Master Bolt, subconsciously of course. Dionysus just grunted after which Zeus started talking again in a loud voice, "You are lucky you're my son. But I'm not sure even this can save you from your oncoming punishment. You are removed from the Olympian council and I will make the official decision tomorrow."

Then, in anger, Zeus shocked Dionysus with a huge bolt which made the god of madness go through the wall of the room and crash into the wall of the next one.

**Flashback Over**

**That's the story of the shocking (AN : tell me you got the joke) beat down of Dionysus. Now back to the council. **

All gods and goddesses except Athena and Dionysus disappeared in various different colors of flashes of lights.

Dionysus fell on his knees and joined his hands, "Father, please do not remove me from the council. Just give me a second chance and I will make sure that you see the difference. I will do anything I can to make it up to you.

"I gave you many chances but you always found a way to do something worse. I can't help it but you are now removed from the council. You are a disgrace of a son to me." Then Zeus waved his hand and Dionysus disappeared in a mist of blue and purple shade.

Zeus continued, "Daughter, what do you think of the current situation? Do you think we can handle it even after surviving a war with the Titans?"

Athena stayed in a posture of concentration for a few minutes while Zeus waited patiently for a response. Even Zeus acknowledged that his daughter was the wisest and he knew that she was doing something important.

Athena then turned towards her father and smirked, "Father, there is no one here. We can speak safely without any interference. And yes, the mission has started perfectly with nobody having the inkling of an idea of our purpose."

"So, give me an update of what you've learned till now." smiled Zeus.

"Well, this will probably come as a shock to you, but he is much, much stronger than we suspected. He has hidden his true power till now and nobody, not even I could guess that he was hiding such a great secret. I couldn't believe when I saw it for myself. Even his own subjects don't know about it. He has kept it a secret for so long and only his family knows about it. And the amount of information and power I have seen is so great, he could have used it to overthrow you in an instant. He can crush Olympus if there ever is a war between you and him. He alone can take on the whole of the Olympian council and win. It is truly amazing." Then Athena's eyes glazed over in reminiscence.

"Will you be able to get this power from him without anybody suspecting? If somebody gets to know of our operation, then you and I will face some serious trouble. Even though I'm king, even I have to answer to the council." said Zeus.

"Don't worry father, I have gotten quite close to him and I'm on the verge of uncovering the big secret. Everything will be alright." smiled Athena.

Zeus stood up, "Yes, once I get hold of this new power you talk about, I will be the most powerful being on Earth. Even my father won't be able to stand up to me and I will rule Olympus forever. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

Zeus then sat down on his throne again as Athena disappeared in a bunch of owl's feather and a few pages with a slight smirk on her face.

**Line Breaker**

Hermes went to Apollo's palace and got inside easily. Hermes didn't need permission to enter a god's domain or palace as he was the god of messengers. But he couldn't abuse this power as he was checked upon by his father, the king of Olympus himself.

Anyways he went to the personal medication room of Apollo where only the most severe cases were treated. Apollo used all of his energy in saving the dying or dead but he had always succeeded. But right now Hermes wasn't so sure.

When Hermes reached the medication room he was surprised to see Ares' lying on a cot with Apollo sitting right next to the body on a beach-chair with his head in his hands.

"Why aren't you healing Ares', bro? And why are you sitting like that? Did something happen?" Hermes fired questions left and right.

Apollo kept sulking in the same posture for a few more minutes after which he stood up, gave Hermes a sad smile and said, "I'm sorry, Hermes, I'm sorry. But Ares can't be healed. He was in his godly form when this happened and there is no way I can heal a god when he was hurt in his godly form. And Ares was stabbed in the chest and had his back broken! I can't heal that at all. There are only 2 options left."

Hermes' curiosity peaked, "Options? What options?"

"Well, we can either let him remain a cripple for the rest of his immortal life, which by the way is mostly forever, or we kill him ourselves and wait for him to reform to return as a perfectly fine Ares. We have to choose one of them" explained Apollo.

"I see, well, let's go to pops, the council will decide it for us. But personally, I would want him to die, then reform and come back as a healed god of war. Also, I want a break from his usual rants about killing off every peaceful person in the world. I want sometime without him" said Hermes.

"There is also that empty spot on the council now that Ares is … well no more in a proper condition." frowned Apollo.

"And there is also the removal of Dionysus from the council. I can honestly say I'm not surprised that happened. His too-much casual attitude was his downfall. Anyways, i think Aunt Hestia will be the one to fill up that spot. She is totally the best goddess that I know of. She can even make pops be quiet with just words." said Hermes with a grin.

"Totally, and the spot of Dionysus, well I guess that will be filled up by uncle Hades, even though he is a bit creepy. I mean, he literally represents death and darkness, while I represent happiness and awesomeness and light. He and I are just polar opposites." Apollo shivered involuntary.

"But there is an upside to this Percy situation. The sons and daughters of Kronos are now going to come close. If they are all together, then nobody, not even Percy can present a threat great enough to budge their power." said Hermes with a smile.

"I agree, but you never know about pops. He might some minor god to be an Olympian. His ego might create a bigger drift among the gods. It all depends on our king now." sighed Apollo.

Hermes then said, "Anyways gotta go now, bro. Tell me more about Ares later. GB."

Then he flashed away and Apollo returned to his chair with his head in his hands.

**Line Breaker**

There was a small mist near a tree and then appeared Nico and Percy. For a few moments there was silence after which Nico started laughing. He kept laughing and didn't stop until Percy jabbed him in the abdomen.

Nico then said, "Dude that was awesome. The Olympians were freaked up. And you broke Ares. You literally broke Ares' back and crippled him for the rest of his eternal life. And the highlight of today, you spoke. You freaking spoke. I didn't know you had such a spooky voice. But it was awesome."

Percy kept standing straight while Nico kept blabbering. After a while Nico stood straight and said, "I know the brains of those campers. They will search everywhere but the one place which they fear. This anthill is the only place where even the centaur won't dare to come. And the ants are … our comrades. They won't harm us. So the only thing which can irritate us is some camper who lost his way in this forest. Anyways, you must be tired and hungry right now, so what do you want to eat? I can get some meat for you. There are quite some rabbits and birds in this area. What do you prefer?"

Percy didn't respond but sat down which made Nico raise his eyebrow. A few moments later a rabbit and a bird came in Percy's lap.

Percy put his hand on both of the creatures and then crushed their bodies in one go. Then he pulled apart their heads, which were intact, and bodies and handed the latter to Nico. Then he started nibbling on the heads.

Seeing all of this Nico just smirked, "Nice. That's a cool power. You gotta teach me that someday. And try to speak a little. I get lonely, being the only who speaks. Anyways, good work, I'm starving. And we should have rest after this, because from tomorrow we will continue to make the campers cower in fear."

Percy then looked at Nico, and if he had not been wearing his mask, then anybody would have seen that Percy had a slight smirk on his face and an evil glint in his eyes. One would only know in the future that things were going to get a hell lot freakier.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

* * *

Annabeth was sitting on her bunk in the Athena cabin, thinking about the night before when Percy and Nico had attacked, the camp. They had destroyed the Apollo and the Artemis cabin and killed Connor and Phoebe.

The daughters of Apollo and the hunters were staying in the Hecate cabin while the sons of Apollo were staying in the Nemesis cabin.

Even though it had only been one night since the incident involving Percy and Nico, the camp had surprisingly come back and managed itself pretty well. Instead of the rubble of bricks and mortar, there was a clean space where the ruined cabins used to be.

Of course, it was Annabeth who had to take the role of the leader of the camp but she couldn't keep her grief inside her the whole time.

So whenever she was alone, she would cry for the past times and for losing Percy and not being able to handle the responsibility of leading the camp and being a role model for many.

Annabeth then went to the bathroom and freshened up. She still had to submit reports about the progress of the rebuilding of the cabins and more importantly, build up the moral of the campers and make some of their fear go away.

But it wouldn't be easy. She herself wasn't sure what to do, they didn't know who their enemy was, and Percy and Nico were just fighters. The true mastermind was yet to be revealed.

She later got told that Percy broke Ares' back and that was when she truly realized that her Seaweed Brain would never come back. She had to stop thinking from her heart and only use her mind. But she ignored everything, went to the training area and practiced on the dummies for the next few hours.

Thalia came by and said, "Hey Wise Girl, breakfast is almost over. Enough training, get some grub and then some sleep, you have dark circles under your eyes. If you want to take care of the camp then you better take care of yourself first." She was snickering by the end.

Annabeth just smiled sadly. "This camp has been my home for the past 9 years. Chiron is a father to me and I even liked Mr. D at some point of time. You are always on the hunt, killing animals and living in tents. That's why you don't have the feeling to want to give up your life to save this camp. I just can't believe that Percy has attacked the place he considered his true home."

"Listen honey, you have to get it in that overworked head of yours that Percy is gone and will never come back. Even I am sad and can barely hold it, but I am trying my best. That kelp head was very dear to me in our own way. He was the best cousin a person can ask for. Seeing him in his current state has made me realize that good things always go away in the end. But enough of sorrow, we have to be strong and fight because we know that we are the good side and we have the power of the gods with us. We will win."

Annabeth just smiled sadly and slumped on the ground, "I just don't know if I can handle being the leader of this camp. I was so pathetic last night; I was no match for Percy. You are much better a fighter than I am and that was proved last night. Also, your heritage makes you a natural leader as daughter of Zeus."

Thalia sat down next to her with her eyebrow raised, "You think I like being a daughter of Zeus? Sure, I have a lot of power, but at what cost? No matter what everybody will always fear me, even my friends. Many are scared of me because of my father, this being the reason that I was always treated like an outcast in my childhood. I don't have any brothers or sisters, no one to share a cabin with, no one to eat my meals with. Even in the hunt, the only reason I'm the lieutenant is because I am the only demigod daughter of Zeus, and subsequently, Artemis' half-sister. This is the bond I used to share with Percy and Nico. Now both of them have gone so far that I will never be able to get them back again."

Thalia sighed and then continued, "But bunk that, it's no use reminiscing about the past. I have to get you up and in the spirits for the task of reconstructing this camp. So I challenge you to a race Athena spawn, the one who reaches the pavilion first has to admit that the other is better and also handle the kitchen duties for any forthcoming punishment. Come on."

Annabeth smirked and raced forward with Thalia on her heels as they both ran, not realizing that this was one of the last times they would ever get the time to be happy.

**Line Breaker**

"Mother, I don't like this at all. He has been angry all night and even now the storms are raging far beyond what I can control. I need you to cool him down as I have already tried and the only result was me getting slapped. Do something." said Triton.

Amphitrite sighed and said, "I managed to get the reason out from him late last night. It is because of the events involving your half-brother Perseus Jackson and his recent ventures. There was a little spat between Lord Zeus and Lord Poseidon around this topic and due to his temper, Poseidon stormed out of there **(A.N : get the irony?) **and the storms have been the consequent results. In his state, it is best to leave him be and let his temper cool down himself. There are ….."

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and Athena appeared in the throne room of Atlantis, next to Amphitrite and Triton. She then nodded to Amphitrite and said, "I have come here to meet Poseidon. Where is he?"

Triton folded his arms and responded, "Athena, you have been coming to Atlantis a lot these days. There is no chance you are reconsidering your state of affairs with father, is there?"

Athena just sighed and said, "I have already solved this matter with Poseidon and I will only say that ….."

Triton interrupter by saying, "While you are in Atlantis, you will refer to father by the title of Lord, because unlike in Olympus, father is king here and the one with the most power. With a flick of my finger I can crush you under the millions of quintals of water and there won't even be any remains left for you to reform. Your fatal flaw of hubris will not be tolerated here."

Athena seethed in her mind and was about to remark when a loud booming voice echoed throughout the throne room, "Triton, that is no way to talk to a guest. Regardless of your past with Athena she is by all means my guest and friend and this disrespect will not be tolerated. Apologize immediately."

Triton just glared at Athena, then bowed in Poseidon's direction and flashed away along with Amphitrite, who had just stared at Athena the whole time.

Poseidon then sighed and asked Athena, "What is it? If that nitwit brother of mine sent you here to give some kind of message then I don't want to hear it."

Athena let out a snort and then said, "You really think father even wants to talk to you anymore? Anyways, I have come here to cool you down on my own behalf. Your seas are flooding coastal cities and towns and I'm worried. I know that you are conflicted between your love for your demigod son and your loyalty to Olympus. But you need to think about this with a cool mind. You need to figure out the pros and cons of the situation and look at the bigger picture. And in the meantime, I can stay with you at Atlantis so as to help you while you think. What do you say?"

Poseidon closed his eyes and thought about it for a while and then said, "Well, since you like books a lot I will have your room prepared near the library. That way you will not get bored and also avoid any unnecessary confrontation with either Triton or Amphitrite. My attendant will guide you to the room."

Then Poseidon left and Athena had an uncanny grin plastered on her face, while following the attendant. Her plan was coming to fruition. It would soon be time, and then _he _would suffer the fate _he_ was destined to.

**Line Breaker – A Few Days Later**

It was a very humid day as Nico grunted again and again, with his body perspiring rapidly. Percy was behind him, standing as always in a motionless posture.

Percy and Nico were trying to obtain an instrument from the hidden bunker of Cabin 9, the Hephaestus Cabin. This particular instrument was just a prototype but it could make a normal human being, a demigod, god or even titan mentally unstable and vulnerable to any command given to it by the user.

If used properly, in the war they could turn innumerable people to their side with less than no effort.

While the campers were having dinner in the pavilion, Nico and Percy were stealing this instrument. But the traps guarding the instrument were so many in number and so hard to pass through that manipulating shadows to obtain the object utilized a lot of power and also a lot of precision and accuracy.

So, for a few days they just stole some weapons which were barely made any big difference in the armory of the campers while biding for time and when the Hephaestus campers lowered their guard, they came for the instrument.

Nico used more and more of his power and then got a hold of the instrument. 'Now to get the instrument without dropping it" – thought Nico. After another 7-8 minutes Nico had the instrument in his hand.

While Nico was inspecting the instrument, he suddenly felt Percy jerk behind him. This could only mean one thing – the campers were coming back. Both the warriors ran towards the trees for cover but Nico fell due to exhaustion from using too much power.

They were spotted by one camper who shouted immediately, "Oh my god, that's Percy Jackson and Nico Di Angelo. They are back." All campers rushed towards them. Nico didn't have enough power to fight the campers so Percy took out his pen and uncapped it, revealing Riptide.

Then he picked up Nico on his shoulder and threw his sword like a javelin at the campers. The throw had so much power that it went through 3 campers before being deflected by a shield held by a camper. A camper, probably a son of Nike, ran with amazing speed and stood blocking Percy's path with his sword.

But Percy kicked with even faster speed at the shield of the camper who was sent flying into the bushes. The campers stood back while Annabeth, Will Solace, Thalia, Katie, Travis, and a few other close friends of Percy pushed their way to the front with their weapons taken out.

Travis then shouted, "You bastards, you killed my brother, Connor. I will kill you even if it's the last thing I ever do. Come back."

Percy kept walking and this angered him so much that he rushed without a second thought, anger clouding his judgment. Annabeth shouted, "No, he's too strong for you. Come back Travis."

Thalia shot a lightning bolt at Percy and then he reacted so quickly that not many could see what actually happened. Percy dropped Nico, turned around and took out Riptide out of his pocket. Then he threw the sword at Travis. The lightning got attracted to the sword because it is a conductor and it continued on its way as a combination of sword and lightning.

Travis managed to deflect Riptide with his own sword but couldn't prevent Riptide from stabbing him in the shoulder. The lightning stored in the sword electrocuted him and he fell down, not moving at all.

Then Percy picked Nico and ran away in the forest again, leaving the campers with more casualties. 'They had never left the camp but had only stayed in the forbidden forest, thus outwitting even the most intelligent of the Athena children, damn it' – thought Annabeth.

Percy kept running and returned to their makeshift campsite. There he dropped Nico who had come back to consciousness by then. He said, "Pretty crazy ….. out there, huh? Well, at least we're ….. alive. So what actually happened out there?"

All of a sudden 'the voice' started speaking in their minds. "Nice work Percy. You did an excellent job of warding off the campers. You both acquired the prototype I asked you to get. Now use it to get strong fighters onto our side. For even though I have an army, I lack quality generals. The people who you need to get are Thalia Grace, Annabeth Chase, Chiron the centaur, Clarisse La Rue, and a few of the minor gods. This may take time but you should also gather any and all fighters who seem strong enough to fight in my army. Kill all those who are weak and vulnerable with no mercy. I have faith in you Percy, and Nico."

After this the voice spoke no more and Percy and Nico went about their own ways. Percy sat motionlessly along while Nico paced around.

Nico had observed that 'the voice' favored Percy on terms of skill, power, technique, etc. It was always Percy who did the good work and Nico never got any recognition. This aggravated Nico to no end.

Nico knew that Percy had "the voice's" essence in him but that didn't mean that Percy was more powerful than him. Even though Percy and Nico had never fought, Nico knew that he could take on Percy and win. He just needed to prove himself to 'the voice' that he was better than Percy.

And when he got the chance he would do just that. Nico then kept glaring at Percy as if only a glare would kill him.

* * *

**That was Chapter 12, readers. And don't forget to Review. I don't care if you criticize me, but please review.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Olympian Throne Room - Council Meeting**

"Today's council meeting is to discuss the fate of the Olympian council, more specifically, the spots vacated by Dionysus and Ares. We are to also decide the fate of Ares based on what Apollo will tell us about his condition. That is why we have invited all the minor gods, Hades, the demigods and all other magical creatures for this meeting. By the way where is Hades, I don't sense him?" said Zeus, in a solemn tone.

Persephone replied, "My husband has some important work to do involving the underworld and so he will come a bit late, Lord Zeus."

"How dare he come so late to a meeting so important?" Zeus shouted.

"Calm down brother, he will come when he is able to. We should start with the proceedings." advised Hestia. Zeus took in a deep breath and nodded, "You are right. I should think about this with a calm mind."

"There already has been a private discussion between father and me for deserving gods and we have come up with a few names." said Athena.

There was a slight murmur in the crowd as all whispered about the recent events and the numerous possibilities for the upcoming honors. In other times, crowning new Olympians would be a time of big gala and happiness, but because of the events leading up to this, it was just a normal meeting with all gods and demigods assembled.

"Without further ado, let me tell you the names of the new Olympians as of now." After a slight pause Zeus continued, "The 11th Olympian is Hestia." There was a big round of applause as everybody liked her as she was kind to all. Hestia then got up from near the hearth and sat down on one of the empty thrones.

At once, the throne transformed, with small fires burning almost everywhere and the smell of a home-cooked meal surrounding the place. Almost everybody took in a deep breath to inhale the delicious smell.

"Does anyone in the council have any problems with this decision?" asked Athena. Nobody replied and she took it as a sign of unanimous decision.

"Now … the 12th Olympian is … Hebe, my daughter." said Zeus. This decision drew silence from the crowd and a little later a quiet round of applause.

There was a bright flash of darkness and then Hades appeared. He looked at the council and saw Hestia sitting on a throne. He smiled and said, "You deserved this sister. I am very happy for you."

Hestia gave Hades a sad smile and said, "Thank you brother, but maybe …." But by that time Hades saw the other throne next to Hestia on which sat Hebe.

"NOOOO." shouted Hades. "This is not happening. I will not be bypassed again. I deserve a spot on the council, and even though I was left the last time, I will not allow this to happen again. I want my throne Zeus and you had better give it to me. You just want your children to be in the council so that you have an iron-hold on all the decisions that you want to make in your own favor. Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus, Dionysus, and now Hebe. All of them are your children. The remaining Olympians are the sons of Kronos that you had to make Olympians. This is a disgrace. I will not allow this to happen."

"Be quiet. This is a decision taken by me and I'm the king. You will follow my orders or I will make you learn them." screamed Zeus.

"You must have forgotten this but you are not my king. I am not a part of the Olympian Council. I am the king of the underworld and the dead, I am Hades and I bow down to no one. Maybe it's for the better that I'm not one of the Olympians. Omnipotence has blinded you brother. You have been king far too long; I don't know how Poseidon tolerates you at all. But you should know this; if I don't get a council seat then I will declare war on Olympus. You are my younger brother and you should be treated as such. You don't deserve any respect if you don't earn it." shouted Hades.

"Why don't we all just quiet down and talk about this." began Hestia. "We are not alone here. Our children should not see this sight. Today is supposed to be a day when everyone comes together and stays in peace, not start petty fights over who gets what.

"Sister, you do not come between this. I have tolerated this blind disrespect for many millennia now. If he can't acknowledge me as a fellow god, then I will have to make him." said Hades, pulling out his bident and Helm of Darkness.

Zeus just gritted his teeth and pulled out his Master Bolt as Demeter and Hestia told all the minor gods to leave the throne room along with the demigods and nature spirits.

Poseidon then stood up and said, "Brothers, we do not need to start a fight now. We should …. "

"Be quiet Poseidon. I have tolerated Hades' disrespect towards Olympus and me long enough. Today it all ends!" shouted Zeus.

Poseidon was filled with rage but before he could do anything, a few plants crawled up to him and pulled him back on the throne. He looked towards Demeter who shook her head.

Meanwhile, Zeus and Hades were still in a standstill. Then Hades shouted, "Die" and thus began the battle between the gods.

**The forest of Camp Half Blood**

"Percy, its time; time for our second attack on that pathetic camp. This time we will use all our power and destroy that camp. Without the demigods, the gods will be severely weakened and then we will destroy them. Are you ready?" said Nico in a jubilant voice.

Percy kept standing without even a gesture of acknowledgement. Nico sighed and touched Percy's shoulder and they both shadow travelled out of there.

They both appeared in the armory shack of the camp where Nico began his explanation, "Ok, so this is the place where the campers keep the bulk of their weaponry. If we destroy this armory they will be severely handicapped and it will be much easier to destroy them. And that is how we will begin the next war against the gods."

Then Nico raised his hands and shadows swirled out of his own as tentacles. Nico closed his fists and the shadows pierced the walls tearing the whole shack apart.

Then he formed a huge box of shadows and put all the weapons there. After that he kicked the box and it sailed high in the air and landed somewhere in the forest.

**Infirmary of camp Half – Blood**

Annabeth, Thalia and Chiron were surrounding the bed while Will Solace healed Travis. Even though it had been a few days since the attack, Travis was still gravely injured.

Thalia then said in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry Travis that you got hurt by my lightning bolt. I had no intention to do that."

Travis just grinned and said, "It's okay Thalia. It wasn't your mistake anyway. It was that bastard Percy, who will pay for killing my brother. I swore it on Connor's shroud and by gods; I will uphold that promise to my very death."

Will just sighed and said, "You, my friend, are in no condition to fight. It's the stab wound caused by Riptide, it was too deep. Your whole shoulder got dislocated and a part of your bone just got broken into fine powder. It will be months before you are able to use your hand."

Travis' eyes widened, "Are you kidding me? In a few months we might be in war. You are saying that for so long a time I will be lying in this bed, helpless? Come on, you're the son of Apollo, can't you heal this injury immediately.

Will just looked away and said, "I don't have enough power to do so. The injury is very severe. Only a god's power can heal this injury immediately."

"Come child, don't be so sad. You will be fine in a few months. We should be thankful that nothing worse happened." said Chiron, trying to lighten Travis' mood.

Travis erupted, "Nothing worse? Nothing worse? You must be going mad Chiron if you didn't see what happened last time. 3 more campers died Chiron. Are you saying that you still favor Percy? Is he still your favorite student? Are you really that blind in his love? You should ….."

"TRAVIS BE QUIET. JUST SHUT UP OR IN GOD'S NAME I WILL KILL YOU. YOU SAY…" Annabeth was interrupted by a sound, a high pitched sound of something flying.

Thalia, Annabeth, Chiron and Will ran outside to see campers running in the direction of the armory. "What's happening?" asked Thalia.

"I don't know but we gotta check it out. Come." said Annabeth. "Now wait, Annabeth. Thalia, you should go. Annabeth, you and Will help me in transporting the injured and sick upstairs, to where they will be safer. If this is an attack, then keeping the wounded safe is a priority." said Chiron.

The trio nodded and went their separate ways.

**The Armory of Camp Half Blood**

"Now, let's begin. You take one half of the camp I'll take the other half. Go." Then Nico formed shadow clones which were fully black in color but had the same power, albeit to a lesser degree.

After the destruction of the shack, all the campers came running. One shouted, "They destroyed our armory. We don't have any weapons. How do we fight them?" Some campers who had their weapons went on to fight the warriors of the dark while the others stood back.

Percy was like a blur of darkness slashing through the campers as if they were paper. The campers were no match for his superior sword yielding abilities and practical immortality.

Then he came face to face with Thalia. He slashed at her normally because for Percy there were no strong campers and weak campers. They were all campers and he had one mission – to kill them.

"Percy Jackson, I swear on my name that I will kill you – immortal or not. I will not let you hurt anyone else." said Thalia.

Then both the combatants rushed each at other. Percy slashed at her head but she blocked with Aegis and then sliced at his stomach. He caught the sword in mid-arc and pulled it out of her hand.

Then he kicked Thalia in the leg, making her drop and then in the face. But Thalia let loose a huge bolt of lightning from the sky, which made him drop Thalia's sword. Any other normal demigod and he or she would have been killed but it had little effect on Percy.

Thalia gritted her teeth and then jumped back up. She threw her shield at him and then kicked him in the face while he was distracted.

Percy fell back, more stunned by the fact of the blow than the force itself. He then ran towards the daughter of Zeus with amazing speed and punched her, and she was barely able to duck.

Then she jabbed in him in the stomach and then ran towards her sword. Percy threw his sword in her direction and she caught it. Then she took her sword and now had two swords to fight with while Percy was weaponless.

There was a bright flash of light in the distance but the combatants ignored it. Thalia ran towards Percy and slashed at his legs. Percy jumped but Thalia stabbed him in the stomach with the other sword.

Percy fell down and Thalia kept stabbing him. But then Percy grabbed both the swords in mid-strike and kicked Thalia in the chest. She flew backwards, dropping both swords.

Then Percy got up but only got stabbed from the back. As Thalia got up, she saw that it was Artemis who had stabbed Percy. "Lady Artemis, what are you doing here?" asked Thalia in surprise.

"Taking revenge, what else? Nobody kills my hunters and gets away with it. I will kill this _boy _once and for all." said Artemis.

Percy struck her with the elbow but Artemis dodged and struck him in the legs. Percy buckled and Artemis kicked him, taking out her sword and stabbing him in the back of his head. But she received resistance and couldn't drive it in any farther.

That's when Percy started his attack. He grabbed the sword by his hands and pulled it out of his head. The force pushed Artemis back and with incredible speed Percy roundhouse kicked her.

Artemis coughed and then said, "That all you got? I can't believe Ares lost to you." Percy then took out a pen from his pocket and uncapped it to reveal Riptide.

Artemis then dropped her sword and pulled out her hunting knives from their sheaths. Then the two ran towards each other fighting with all their energy.

**Line Breaker**

Meanwhile Nico had brought upon great destruction to the camp. Just as Percy had run away, he banged his fists on the floor, opening a huge crack. Out of the crack came a huge monster army, possibly larger than even Kronos'. This was the army of 'the voice'. There were creatures which had never been seen before, creatures so old that some were entirely new to the campers.

Then Nico began his attack. "Destroy everything that you see, leave nothing intact." While half the monster force was fighting the campers, the other half was destroying the cabins and pavilion; and they faced little resistance from the weaponless campers. Nico and his clones themselves picked out the strong ones.

And from every clone that was killed, two new were born instantly. Nico first went off against 2 twin daughters of Hecate.

They cast a spell on him which trapped him in a sphere of water. This troubled Nico very much, because Nico has a natural dislike to water, considering his heritage. The sphere was then surrounded by a ring of fire, thereby instantly preventing Nico's escape.

Nico tried to calm down but he didn't have a lot of breath left. He would surely die here if he doesn't get help soon.

Nico could telepathically communicate with his clones. But all of his clones were fighting somebody else. So he tried to stretch his own shadow to see if he could capture even one of the twins, and to somehow break the spell.

But because of the distance, and also because of the scarcity of breath, Nico couldn't stretch it any further.

So he used a part of his shadow and made a clone. The twins were so surprised by the appearance of a clone that they stumbled back. And the spell weakened.

The clone then killed the twins and Nico was free. He fell down, gasping for breath, and the clone helped him stand up properly. Then Nico absorbed the clone and got back some of his power.

Then he cracked his knuckles and shadow travelled in front of the infirmary, where he had sensed the presence the centaur, Chiron and a few other campers. He figured that if the mentor, the head of the camp died than the leaderless campers would be subdued easily.

So he walked right into the building to see that the floor was empty. He searched with the shadows and saw them shifting beds onto the second floor.

So he walked up the stairs and then said in a loud voice, "Hello centaur, I hope you led a happy life, because now I'm going to end it."

He then walked into the room and the next moment he found himself hung up by his foot on a rope. He scoffed and said, "You plan to stop me with a rope? Seriously, you got to be kidding me. I am the warrior of the great entity of Tartarus and …."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. FYI that is not a normal rope, but it is pure celestial bronze. You can't get out of it even if you want to." said Will Solace, while smirking.

Nico had a surprised look on his face which was soon replaced by laughter. He was laughing so hardly that his stomach started aching.

Annabeth had a look of annoyance on his face when she asked, "What's so funny, Nico? Is there some joke that we missed?"

Nico simply unsheathed his sword, which was made by the essence of Tartarus, and struck at the celestial bronze, cutting it in one strike.

He somersaulted and landed on his feet. Then he grinned and said, "You were saying?"

"Child, what has happened to you? Please come back to us, we will help you. Don't do this. There still is hope for you. Please come back." said Chiron.

"Shut up centaur, I don't want to hear anything from you. I will make sure that you bow down to me." Then Nico raised his hand to stomach level and concentrated. Out of his shadow, a small box popped out and fell into his hand.

Then Nico smirked and said, "Do you know what this is? I'll tell you what this is? This is a prototype that the Hephaestus children were building. This instrument has the ability to weaken one's mental state and be vulnerable enough to be controlled by the user. Now I will test it on you centaur."

Annabeth took out her knife and charged while Will readied his bow and took out his arrow. Chiron shouted, "There are wounded in here. Do not fight here."

"My fight is not with you bugs but with your teacher; move out of my way. Or wait …. You three are strong fighters, I will control all three of you." then Nico started laughing again.

Then he gripped his sword tightly and swung at Annabeth, missed her but rotated himself and kicked her in the stomach. Annabeth bent down but swung her knife, aiming for the prototype. With an amazing display of agility, he pulled back his hand holding the prototype, making Annabeth stumble forward and then struck her on the back of her head with his elbow.

Then he jumped back, dodging the arrows shot by Will, which got lodged in the wall. But then Annabeth clung onto him and jumped through the window of the second wall.

Nico managed to cushion their fall by using a mattress of shadows. But then he got fired upon by a barrage of arrows all shot by Will. Nico barely dodged them but then he also had to defend himself against Annabeth's attack.

He used his shadows and formed a clone, who engaged Annabeth. Then he turned his attention towards Will.

**Line Breaker**

Percy was fighting a battle against Artemis and Thalia and was on equal footing with them both. Thalia had lost her sword but was now using a spear she found on the ground.

Whenever he slashed at Artemis, she dodged and countered, Percy blocked and then he got stabbed by Thalia. But he had managed to inflict some wounds on both of his opponents too.

Artemis had a deep cut in her abdomen while Thalia had a long cut on both her hands and she was limping also.

Then Artemis used her godly power and fired a blast at Percy. He dodged it but kept getting fired upon again and again. He ran in a circle and the blasts harmed both campers and monsters.

A few of her blasts reacted exploded in the water. The reaction created a really huge wave that flooded more than half of the battlefield.

When the water level went down, Percy was standing with all his wounds healed. While Artemis and Thalia were soaked and gasping for breath, he attacked the two of them with a flurry of attacks. Various cuts appeared on their bodies.

Artemis managed to fire one more blast of godly energy which hit the mark. Percy flew back and crashed into a tree.

Artemis saw the opportunity, ran towards Percy, took hold of his hands and stabbed them to the ground with one hunting knife.

Percy struggled and struggled but even his superior strength couldn't free him from this trap. Artemis took out many hunting knives and stabbed Percy in the back and the legs and the arms. Then she smirked and said, "I finally caught you asshole. Now I will torture you to the content of my hearts and then let my hunters torture you. Then I will present you to the council who will torture you all the more for killing so many of their children. I will make you feel our pain."

"Nice work my lady, you finally caught him. Now what do we do? Hey wait… where is Percy looking?" asked Thalia.

Both Artemis and Thalia and followed Percy's point of line and saw the infirmary, where Nico was battling Will and Annabeth was fighting a shadow clone of Nico.

**Line Breaker**

Nico had created many shadow arrows and was shooting them with a lot of power at Will.

Then he started creating various weapons and throwing them at Will. The son of Apollo had to crouch and dodge this, opening the window of opportunity for Nico to approach Will, as in close combat, Nico would be the sure winner.

Nico created a ramp from the ground to the broken window of the second floor. When Will saw that Nico was close, he threw away his bow and unsheathed his sword. Then he slashed at Nico's head who just blocked and used the shadows to create spikes in the ground.

Will had to run back just to dodge them, but he tripped and fell down. Then the spikes shot out from the ground and travelled towards Will at high speed. He closed his eyes, not wanting to witness his own inevitable death.

After a few moments, Will looked up to see that there were no spikes headed his way. In fact, there were no spikes at all. He looked at Nico and saw that there was one arrow entering Nico's body from one shoulder blade and sprouting from the other.

Nico himself was stunned, and badly hurt. He turned very slowly, and with a lot of pain, to see Chiron holding a bow and a few tears coming out of his eyes.

"Child, I told you that if you come back then all can be well again. But you just didn't listen." said Chiron.

Nico was quiet for a while and then he started laughing again. "You think you've defeated me, you think that now I will apologize for making a mistake and die in peace and all that shit. Well, you've got it all wrong, centaur. The battle is still not over. Let me tell you, I handed the prototype to my clone, that's why I don't have it. Right now, Annabeth is in my control, and if I remember properly, then if the user of the instrument dies, all the people controlled by the instrument will also die. Your precious Annabeth will …." Then Nico stopped talking and fell down.

Annabeth was standing behind Nico with a knife in her hand. "If it was that easy to defeat me, then I wouldn't have survived the Titan War. You got it all wrong, Nico. No clone can defeat me. It was a matter of minutes before I knew that fighting your clone was useless. If it is a shadow then it cannot be defeated …. as long as it remains in the light. So I simply led your shadow clone into the shadow of this building and it was over. It looks like you will die alone. I'm ….. I'm sorry it all had to end this way."

Nico laughed a bit more and said, "It still isn't over. For all your planning you missed one thing." Annabeth frowned, "And what's that?"

"You had your chance and you ….. blew it. You should have cut my …. head off and completed the job. Till I have my shadows ….. I cannot die." said Nico.

Then Nico didn't speak anymore. Percy had been seeing all this along with Thalia and Annabeth. When he saw Nico fall, something inside of him snapped and he started feeling very, very … angry.

Thalia and Artemis were still talking, "And now the other _boy _is dead too. I can't believe Bianca had a brother like him. Well now, that we have captured one and killed the other, it's time to let the campers take care of the monsters and for me to take these two to Olympus … or better, my camp. I'll …"

She was interrupted by Thalia, "Lady Artemis, what's happening to Percy? He's seems different." Both Artemis and Thalia stared curiously at Percy, who was glowing red and brown.

His skin was transforming and certain lines were appearing on it. "Why in Hades' name is he glowing?"

Suddenly a beam of light came out of his body and went straight into the sky. "Thalia, step away, and tell all the campers to retreat to the other end of the battlefield. Something strange is going on and I don't like the looks of it."

"My lady, what is happening?" asked Thalia in a worried tone. "We both are about to know very soon. Now hurry." replied Artemis

Thalia went away and told other campers to retreat. Seeing the beam of light, some monsters screeched and all of them retreated too.

Scales appeared on Percy's skin and his body started expanding in size. The hunting knives broke away and a huge amount of power started oozing from his body.

Percy's clothes tore away and his skin's color changed to brown. His teeth became much sharper and his hands shrunk into microscopic parts on the body. The body elongated and the legs joined together. His tongue had transformed into a forked tongue and had become much longer.

Percy had become a very big snake. A very big and angry snake.


End file.
